Opinion ID: 318245
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the disclosure requirement

Text: 11 In Alderman v. United States, 8 the Supreme Court held that the government must disclose to Ivanov and the other defendants all records of illegal surveillances, without a prior in camera review by the trial judge, for the purpose of determining if the records contain material relevant to the government's case. The Supreme Court concluded that once the interceptions are ascertained to be illegal, 'the task (of determining taint) is too complex, and the margin of error too great, to rely wholly on the in camera judgment of the trial court to identify those records which might have contributed to jhe Government's case.' 9 12 The Supreme Court made clear in Taglianetti v. United States 10 that the necessity of disclosure, in cases not involving illegal surveillance, depended upon the likelihood that accurate determinations of the particular factual or legal issues in dispute were otherwise unobtainable. 'Nothing in (Alderman, Ivanov, and Butenko) . . . requires an adversary proceeding and full disclosure for resolution of every issue raised by an electronic surveillance.' 11 Apart from ascertaining whether evidence derived from illegal surveillances tainted a conviction, it remains within the trial judge's discretion to require or not to require disclosure of records of surveillances to facilitate resolution of questions surrounding electronic surveillance. 12 $iThus, if we are to require disclosure of the records of the second set of interceptions, we must conclude either (1) that the electronic surveillances producing such records were illegal or (2) that the trial judge abused his discretion in refusing disclosure. 13 In dealing with the former considerations-- assessing the legality of the government's activities with regard to the second group of surveillances, we must first decide whether 605 prohibits the surveillances at issue. If we should decide that the prohibitions of 605 do not cover these surveillances, we must then proceed to determine whether Ivanov's Fourth Amendment rights have been transgressed. 13 Lastly, if we should hold that this set of surveillances were not illegal, we must, in accordance with the instructions of the Supreme Court, evaluate the trial judge's exercise of discretion in refusing disclosure. 14 We shall address these three issues seriatim. 15 II. SECTION 605 OF THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934 DOES NOT PROHIBIT THE INTERCEPTION AND DIVULGENCE OF THE CONTENTS OF ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE IN THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS FIELD MADE PURSUANT TO EXECUTIVE ORDER. 16 Section 605 of the Communications Act provides in relevant part that 'no person not being authorized by the sender shall intercept any communication and divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such intercepted communication to any person.' 14 17 This section prompted considerable discussion as electronic surveillance became a more sophisticated and widely used device for the investigation of criminal activity. Much of the clamor for reform centered around the scope given to the section by the Nardone cases. 15 Petitioners in those cases were tried and convicted of smuggling alcohol. Over their objection, federal agents were permitted to testify to the substance of petitioners' telephone conversations that were wiretapped and overheard by the witnesses. In Nardone I, the Supreme Court held that, under 605, no person' comprehends federal agents, and the bar on communication to 'any person' bars testimony to the content of an intercepted message.' 16 On re-trial, the prosecution attempted to present evidence gathered as a result of the illegal taps instead of testimony as to the actual contents of the overheard conversations. The Court, in Nardone II, made clear that the 'fruits' of the taps, as well as the intercepted materials themselves, were inadmissible. 18 In response to the ostensible debilitating threat to federal investigatory activities presented by the interpretation placed on 605 by the Nardone cases, the Department of Justice adopted the position 'that the mere interception of telephone communications is not prohibited by federal law.' 17 The government, therefore, continued to wiretap after the Nardone cases even though aware that those cases, at least when the surveillances were conducted during the course of an investigation of domestic criminal activity, precluded the introduction of the records or fruits thereof into evidence. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice pressed for legislation lifting the evidentiary limitations erected on the foundation of 605 by the Nardone cases. It did so on the obvious ground that the bility to use electronic surveillance to secure evidence in criminal convictions would make surveillance a more effective weapon against crime. The Department's efforts were finally successful with the enactment of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, which specifically authorizes any electronic surveillance with prior judicial authorization. 18 To contend, as Judge Aldisert does, that these efforts by various Attorneys General, constituted a concession that 605 proscribed the introduction into evidence of material seized as a result of such surveillance does not seem realistic. 19 The Attorneys General were advocating new legislation narrowing the potential ambit of 605 and, in that context, suggesting that 605 might be broad enough to reach situations like that presented in this case, no doubt represented sound strategy. In addition, the Supreme Court, in the Nardone cases, was dealing with the warrantless electronic surveillance of suspected domestic criminals during routine investigations by federal agents. In the present case, we are faced with the significantly different situation of warrantless electronic surveillance pursuant to presidential directive in the sensitive area of foreign intelligence information gathering. It, therefore, would not seem appropriate to regard those cases as controlling here. Only one court of appeals has been faced with circumstances similar to those here and it dealt with the issue obliquely, if at all. 20 The Executive Branch's continuing assertion of the power to wiretap per se and the conclusion that the use of intercepted material as evidence was prohibited by 605 21 and, thus, that the provision had an incidental effect not unlike a rule of evidence, does not, as Judge Aldisert urges, inexorably lead to the proposition that the statutory proscription against divulgence represented an evidentiary rule. 22 The legislative history relating to 605 is bereft of any suggestion that Congress intended to fashion a rule of evidence. On the contrary, the language of the statute seems to reach any divulgence, by the way of introduction into evidence or otherwise, of information obtained by way of wiretaps that would compromise the privacy of those whose conversations are overheard. Furthermore, the fact that the restrictions contained in 605 have been enforced through the exclusion of evidence at a criminal trial should not obscure the broader aim of the statute-- the discouragement of the interception of communications. 23 19 Thus, in our view, and apparently that of Judge Gibbons, who today dissents on other grounds, 605 would appear to prohibit divulgence of intercepted communications obtained by electronic surveillances that are deemed within the parameters of the provision. Moreover, restricting any divulgence to members of the Executive Branch, as Judge Aldisert suggests, does not necessarily mean that the surveillance and such divulgence does not run afoul of 605. 24 The proscriptions of 605 are directed to surveillances generally, and the conjunction, 'and,' separating 'interception' and 'divulgence,' does not seem intended to invite separate analysis. There is absolutely no indication that Congress contemplated situations where interceptions were unaccompanied by divulgences. 20 However, the conclusion that 605 extends to all divulgences to any person of any surveillances within the provision's ambit does not exhaust our inquiry into the lawfulness of the wiretaps in the case at hand. We still must determine whether 605 reaches the type of surveillances producing the records that the district judge has refused to order disclosed to Ivanov and his counsel. Specifically, the question left unanswered is whether 605 is to be construed to restrict the President's authority to gather foreign intelligence information and use such information to assist in securing criminal convictions. 25 21 Keeping in mind that 605 embodies a limitation on the power to engage in surveillance generally, we begin our analysis of the remaining question under the statute with the proposition that the President is charged with the duties to act as Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces 26 and to administer the nation's foreign affairs, 27 powers that will receive fuller treatment in subsequent portions of this opinion. 28 To fulfill these responsibilities, the President must exercise an informed judgment. Decisions affecting the United States' relationships with other sovereign states are more likely to advance our national interests if the President is apprised of the intentions, capabilities and possible responses of other countries. Certainly one means of acquiring information of this sort is through electronic surveillance. And electronic surveillance may well be a competent tool for impeding the flow of sensitive information from the United States to other nations. 22 In enacting 605, the Congress did not address the statute's possible bearing on the President's constitutional duties as Commander-in-Chief and as administrator of the nation's foreign affairs. The Senate and House reports suggest that the purpose of the Communications Act was to create a commission with regulatory power over all forms of electrical communications, whether by telephone, telegraph, cable or radio. 29 There appears to have been little or no discussion at all in Congress regarding 605. Indeed, had Congress explored the question, it no doubt would have recognized, as Judge Gibbons' extensive discussion may well indicate, that any action by it that arguably would hamper-- since as we have previously concluded 605 is intended to prohibit surveillances generally-- the President's effective performance of his duties in the foreign affairs field would have raised constitutional questions. We do not intimate, at this time, any view whatsoever as to the proper resolution of the possible clash of the constitutional powers of the President and Congress. Instead, we merely note that the absence of legislative consideration of the issue does suggest that Congress may not have intended 605 to reach the situation presented in the present case. In the absence of any indication that the legislators considered the possible effect of 605 in the foreign affairs field, we should not lightly ascribe to Congress an intent that 605 should reach electronic surveillance conducted by the President in furtherance of his foreign affairs responsibilities. This would seem to be far too important a subject to justify resort to unsupported assumptions. 23 The Attorney General has certified, Ivanov does not deny, and the district court has found, that the surveillances at issue here 'were conducted and maintained solely for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence information.' 30 Therefore, 605 does not render them, in and of themselves, accompanied by subsequent disclosure, unlawful. 24 Although decisions subsequent to United States v. Coplon 31 hold that 605 does not limit the President's powers to gather foreign intelligence information, 32 we are aware that Coplon may be read to undercut the position urged here as well as in the other cases subsequent to Coplon. We do not, however, despite our high regard for the late Judge Learned Hand, give to that case the conclusive reading suggested by Judge Gibbons. There, the court did not consider in any detail whether wiretaps for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence information fell within the ambit of 605. A close reading of the briefs in Coplon indicates that the question was not raised. Instead, the court merely assumed that the surveillance and disclosure together were illegal under 605. 33 In the absence of any reasoning undergirding this assumption, we do not consider it is entitled to any great precedential effect and decline to adopt it here. 25