Opinion ID: 350073
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: 53 Before analyzing the merits of the issue of executive privilege, we pause to note some reservations about the use of that term in the context of this case. The Supreme Court has recognized a privilege for documents possessed by the executive that contain military secrets, United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1, 73 S.Ct. 528, 97 L.Ed. 727 (1953), or the deliberations of high executive officials, United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974). Lower court decisions have dealt with claims of executive privilege in similar contexts. E. g., Machin v. Zuckert, 114 U.S.App.D.C. 335, 316 F.2d 336, cert. denied, 375 U.S. 896, 84 S.Ct. 172, 11 L.Ed.2d 124 (1963) (Air Force deliberations); Carl Zeiss Stiftung v. V. E. B. Carl Zeiss, Jena, 40 F.R.D. 318 (D.D.C.1966), aff'd mem. sub nom. V. E. B. Carl Zeiss, Jena v. Clark, 128 U.S.App.D.C. 10, 384 F.2d 979, cert. denied, 389 U.S. 952, 88 S.Ct. 334, 19 L.Ed.2d 361 (1967) (deliberations within the Justice Department). In these situations, the claim of executive privilege may have constitutional underpinnings. E. g., United States v. Nixon, supra, 418 U.S. at 705-06, 94 S.Ct. 3090. 54 This case is not centrally concerned with diplomatic or military secrets, or with intra-governmental documents reflecting policy deliberations. Rather it concerns a claim of privilege based primarily on the harm to law enforcement efforts which might arise from public disclosure of FBI investigatory files. Cf. Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 59, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957) (informer's privilege). Insofar as the term executive privilege is understood to refer to the situations described above or to be derived from constitutional principles, it might be more accurate to refer to the privilege claimed here as a law enforcement evidentiary privilege. 55 For two reasons, however, we do not eschew the terminology and legal precedents for executive privilege. First, the privilege asserted here shares with those typically labelled executive a justification rooted in the need to minimize disclosure of documents whose revelation might impair the necessary functioning of a department of the executive branch. The argument here that law enforcement operations cannot be effective if conducted in full public view is analogous to that made on behalf of intra-agency deliberations. Thus many of the principles and procedures involved in the more traditional executive privilege cases may be relevant here. Second, we are confronted here with a formal claim of privilege asserted by one of the highest officers of the government. This case like other cases involving executive privilege raises a question as to the deference which is to be given to such a claim of privilege and the manner in which it is to be handled. 56 While the executive privilege interests involved in this case do not have the constitutional dimension indicated in Nixon and Reynolds, they are rooted in common sense as well as common law. The various common law privileges are not undercut by the fact that they are subject to legislative reshaping and modification. 6 They share with each other, and with the constitutional privileges, the common matrix of pragmatic adjustment to needs of sound government. Hence we feel justified in drawing broadly on various executive privilege decisions and precedents, without exact refinement, for discerning a sound approach that will adjust the needs of both the judicial process and the executive branch. 57 In analyzing the issue of executive privilege in this case, it is also important to keep in mind the precise nature of the dispute between the parties. At the time the district court imposed sanctions, the plaintiff had in his possession the logs, the airtels sent out by the Washington Office, and portions of the FBI reports based directly on the logs. The Attorney General had authorized the production, depending upon court approval, of all material in the FBI file which was obtained indirectly as a result of leads from the eavesdropping. This would presumably include additional portions of the FBI reports and the airtels sent by FBI field offices in response to Washington. The plaintiff conceded that this was the material in which he was primarily interested, but argued that he could not be sure that the government was turning over all such material that the material gained from the eavesdropping and that from other sources had become so intertwined that the government could not possibly do a fair job of separating the relevant material from that in which he was not interested. Plaintiff therefore claimed that he was entitled to see all documents placed in the file after the commencement of the eavesdropping. The Attorney General refused to produce those materials for plaintiff's counsel, although he was willing to produce the entire file for in camera inspection by the district court and a determination by the district court as to the proper scope of the privilege. 58 Thus, as we understand the posture of the case, the parties were at odds not about what materials were needed for the prosecution of plaintiff's claim, but about who should make the determination as to which documents were relevant. The government asked that the district court make such a determination in camera ; the plaintiff insisted that he alone was capable of making this judgment. The district court ultimately overruled the claim of privilege and stood by its order of July 10, requiring the government to make available to the plaintiff the entire FBI reports and all airtels received by the Washington Office. 59