Opinion ID: 1997305
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Supreme Court's Doctrinal Shift

Text: A further shift in Supreme Court philosophy regarding the relationship between the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and documents and records emerged in Fisher v. United States, 425 U.S. 391, 96 S.Ct. 1569, 48 L.Ed.2d 39 (1976). In that case, a taxpayer obtained from his accountant certain documents, which were then given to his attorney, who was assisting the taxpayer with an investigation being conducted by the Internal Revenue Service. The Internal Revenue Service issued a subpoena demanding that the attorney produce the work papers, tax returns, and correspondence between the taxpayer and his accountant. The taxpayer claimed the accountant's papers relating to the taxpayer were protected by the Fifth Amendment. The Supreme Court first addressed whether the client had a Fifth Amendment privilege in the various documents sought by the Internal Revenue Service. Holding the taxpayer had no such privilege, the Court stated: It is also clear that the Fifth Amendment does not independently proscribe the compelled production of every sort of incriminating evidence but applies only when the accused is compelled to make a testimonial communication that is incriminating.... .... A subpoena served on a taxpayer requiring him to produce an accountant's work papers in his possession without doubt involves substantial compulsion. But it does not compel oral testimony; nor would it ordinarily compel the taxpayer to restate, repeat, or affirm the truth of the contents of the documents sought. Therefore, the Fifth Amendment would not be violated by the fact alone that the papers on their face might incriminate the taxpayer, for the privilege protects a person only against being incriminated by his own compelled testimonial communications. The accountant's work papers are not the taxpayer's. They were not prepared by the taxpayer, and they contain no testimonial declarations by him. Furthermore, as far as this record demonstrates, the preparation of all of the papers sought in these cases was wholly voluntary, and they cannot be said to contain compelled testimonial evidence, either of the taxpayers or of anyone else. The taxpayer cannot avoid compliance with the subpoena merely by asserting that the item of evidence which he is required to produce contains incriminating writing, whether his own or that of someone else. The act of producing evidence in response to a subpoena nevertheless has communicative aspects of its own, wholly aside from the contents of the papers produced. Compliance with the subpoena tacitly concedes the existence of the papers demanded and their possession or control by the taxpayer. It also would indicate the taxpayer's belief that the papers are those described in the subpoena. The elements of compulsion are clearly present, but the more difficult issues are whether the tacit averments of the taxpayer are both testimonial and incriminating for purposes of applying the Fifth Amendment. These questions perhaps do not lend themselves to categorical answers; their resolution may instead depend on the facts and circumstances of particular cases or classes thereof. Id. at 408-10, 96 S.Ct. at 1579-81, 48 L.Ed.2d at 54-56 (citations omitted) (footnote omitted). The Court then examined whether the act of producing the records and documents would constitute testimonial self-incrimination. It noted that in order for the compelled production to constitute self-incrimination, the act of producing the papers prepared by an accountant and in the taxpayer's possession had to be both testimonial and incriminating. The Court, holding that production of the documents was not testimonial, reasoned: The papers belong to the accountant, were prepared by him, and are the kind usually prepared by an accountant working on the tax returns of his client. Surely the Government is in no way relying on the truth-telling of the taxpayer to prove the existence of or his access to the documents. The existence and location of the papers are a foregone conclusion and the taxpayer adds little or nothing to the sum total of the Government's information by conceding that he in fact has the papers. Id. at 411, 96 S.Ct. at 1581, 48 L.Ed.2d at 56 (citation omitted). The Court also noted that the existence of the documents sought were no more at issue than in the cases discussing the collective entity doctrine. With respect to whether the production of the documents themselves was incriminating, the Court noted that obtaining assistance from an accountant was not illegal. Likewise, possession of such documents was not incriminating. The impact of Fisher is significant with respect to an individual's Fifth Amendment privilege as to records and documents. After Fisher, the focus of the Fifth Amendment privilege with respect to records and documents became not the actual documents, but instead the act of producing the documents. [8] This shift in focus is exemplified by United States v. Doe, 465 U.S. 605, 104 S.Ct. 1237, 79 L.Ed.2d 552 (1984) (Doe I ) and Doe v. United States, 487 U.S. 201, 108 S.Ct. 2341, 101 L.Ed.2d 184 (1988) (Doe II) . See also Curran, 334 Md. at 175, 638 A.2d at 106 ([A] person may not claim the privilege based on `incrimination that may result from the contents or nature of the thing demanded.'). In Doe I, a grand jury issued several subpoenas demanding the production of telephone records, bank records, and business records of numerous sole proprietorships owned by Doe. The Court framed the issue as whether, and to what extent, the Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination applies to the business records of a sole proprietorship. Id. at 606, 104 S.Ct. at 1239, 79 L.Ed.2d at 556. After discussing Fisher extensively, the Court stated that Doe was not compelled to prepare the documents nor would he be forced to restate, repeat, or affirm the truth of their contents. Id. at 612, 104 S.Ct. at 1242, 79 L.Ed.2d at 560. The Court noted, however, that the subpoenas could compel Doe, the holder of the documents, to perform an act that could have testimonial aspects. Deferring to both lower courts' factual findings that the act of producing the documents would involve testimonial self-incrimination, the Court held Doe's Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination had been violated. In Doe II, Doe was ordered by a federal district court to execute a number of consent forms that would have given the government access to foreign bank records. Doe refused and was found in contempt. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed without an opinion. See In re Doe, 812 F.2d 1404 (5th Cir.1987). On appeal to the Supreme Court, that Court examined whether the compelled execution of a consent form directing the disclosure of foreign bank records is inconsistent with the Fifth Amendment. Doe II, 487 U.S. at 206, 108 S.Ct. at 2345, 101 L.Ed.2d at 194 (footnote omitted). Noting that the act of executing the forms would violate the self-incrimination privilege if execution were both testimonial and incriminating, the Court held neither the form, nor its execution, communicates any factual assertions, implicit or explicit, or conveys any information to the Government and therefore it was not compelled testimony. Id. at 215, 108 S.Ct. at 2350, 101 L.Ed.2d at 200. Although the Supreme Court's focus has shifted from the contents of the records themselves to the act of production, the Court has not limited either the required records exception or the collective entity doctrine. They continue to retain their vitality even with respect to the act of production. In Braswell v. United States, 487 U.S. 99, 108 S.Ct. 2284, 101 L.Ed.2d 98 (1988), the Court addressed whether, in light of Fisher, the custodian of corporate records could resist a subpoena on the ground that the act of producing the documents would incriminate him. Randy Braswell operated his business as a sole proprietorship between 1965 and 1980. In 1980, he incorporated the business, and in 1981, he formed a second corporation funded by the stock of the first corporation. Braswell was the sole shareholder of both corporations. In 1986, a federal grand jury issued a subpoena to Braswell requiring him to produce the books and records of the corporation. Braswell moved to quash the subpoena on the ground that the act of producing the records would tend to incriminate him, in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Braswell argued that Fisher, with its focus on the act of production, had made the collective entity doctrine obsolete because that doctrine focused on the contents of the documents subpoenaed, not on the act of production. Acknowledging it had embarked upon a new course of Fifth Amendment analysis, Braswell, 487 U.S. at 109, 108 S.Ct. at 2291, 101 L.Ed.2d at 109, the Court disagreed with Braswell that this new course had rendered the collective entity rule obsolete. Id. The Court specifically noted the agency rationale underlying the collective entity doctrine had survived Fisher. Ultimately, it held a custodian of records could not assert a Fifth Amendment privilege as to the production of records even though the act of production would incriminate him personally. The Court, however, limited the government's use of the custodian's act of production, stating: Because the custodian acts as a representative, the act is deemed one of the corporation and not the individual. Therefore, the Government concedes, as it must, that it may make no evidentiary use of the individual act against the individual.... The Government has the right, however, to use the corporation's act of production against the custodian. Braswell, 487 U.S. at 118, 108 S.Ct. at 2295, 101 L.Ed.2d at 114. Like the collective entity doctrine, the required records exception to the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination has survived the Supreme Court's act of production analysis set forth in Fisher. See Baltimore City Department of Social Services v. Bouknight, 493 U.S. 549, 110 S.Ct. 900, 107 L.Ed.2d 992 (1990); Shapiro, supra, and California v. Byers, 402 U.S. 424, 91 S.Ct. 1535, 29 L.Ed.2d 9 (1971). [9] As illustrated by Fisher, Doe I, and Doe II, the focus of the resolution of a Fifth Amendment claim as to records and documents is no longer on the records or documents themselves. The focus following Fisher is on the act of production and whether such act is a testimonial assertion that could prove incriminating to an individual. The cases teach us that the collective entity doctrine and the required records exception continue to retain their vitality following Fisher and its progeny. With these principles in mind, we shall resolve the case at hand.