Opinion ID: 3052012
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Pretrial Case Management and

Text: Enforcement Orders The government advances several arguments why the challenged pretrial orders are flawed: First, the district court lacked the authority to require in its March 2005 order that the government provide a pretrial witness list; second, even if the court had such authority, it could not require a final list, especially a year before trial; finally, the exclusionary effect of the enforcement orders was an inappropriate sanction. In response, the defendants argue that the district court had UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE 5649 authority to order witness lists and acted within its discretion in enforcing its orders. We agree with the defendants.
We begin with the principle that the district court is charged with effectuating the speedy and orderly administration of justice. There is universal acceptance in the federal courts that, in carrying out this mandate, a district court has the authority to enter pretrial case management and discovery orders designed to ensure that the relevant issues to be tried are identified, that the parties have an opportunity to engage in appropriate discovery and that the parties are adequately and timely prepared so that the trial can proceed efficiently and intelligibly. The principal orders at issue are the district court’s March 2005 order that, among other things, required the government to disclose by September 30, 2005 a “finalized list of witnesses”; and the court’s enforcement orders that limited the government’s use of witnesses in its case-in-chief (but not rebuttal) to those who had been timely disclosed. The government did not object to the March 2005 order at the time, but when it filed its proposed witness list in September it purported to reserve “its right to update its witness list and exhibit list through the close of all evidence at trial.” The government now argues that the district court had no authority to require the government to produce such a witness list, particularly not a finalized list one year before trial, and to preclude the government from calling additional witnesses not disclosed by the time of the court’s mandated deadline. We disagree. The district court’s March 2005 pretrial order and the enforcement orders fit comfortably within the court’s authority under Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 2 and 16, and its more general inherent authority to manage its docket. Although our decision in United States v. Hicks, 103 F.3d 837 (9th Cir. 1996), would suggest otherwise, we disap5650 UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE prove of Hicks’ reasoning and overrule it to the extent that it conflicts with our decision today. Rather, we align ourselves with the other circuit courts that, although not all relying on a uniform source of authority, widely agree that a witness disclosure order directed to the government is within the district court’s discretion to impose and enforce.7 [4] There is a “well established” principle that “[d]istrict courts have inherent power to control their dockets.” Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. Hercules Inc., 146 F.3d 1071, 1074 (9th Cir. 1998) (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). Further, “judges exercise substan- tial discretion over what happens inside the courtroom.” United States v. Simpson, 927 F.2d 1088, 1091 (9th Cir. 1991). We have accepted that “ ‘[a]ll federal courts are vested with inherent powers enabling them to manage their cases and courtrooms effectively and to ensure obedience to their orders.’ ” Aloe Vera of Am., Inc. v. United States, 376 F.3d 960, 964-65 (9th Cir. 2004) (per curiam) (quoting F.J. Hanshaw Enters., Inc. v. Emerald River Dev., Inc., 244 F.3d 1128, 1136 (9th Cir. 2001)). Other circuits that have addressed a district court’s authority to require the government to disclose its witness list in advance of trial have agreed that the court may do so. See United States v. Cannone, 528 F.2d 296, 299 (2d Cir. 1975) (“The general discretion of district courts to compel the government to identify its witnesses is acknowledged widely . . . .”). Some have invoked the court’s “inherent power, exercisable under appropriate circumstances, to assure the proper and orderly administration of criminal justice.” United States v. Jackson, 508 F.2d 1001, 1007 (7th Cir. 1975); see United States v. Napue, 834 F.2d 1311, 1318 (7th Cir. 1988) (“[A] district court has the authority to require the government to 7 We do not decide whether or to what extent the defense can be compelled to disclose a list of its witnesses before trial, and do not address those issues here. UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE 5651 provide the defendant with such a list . . . . [as] part of the court’s inherent power”) (internal quotation marks omitted); United States v. Higgs, 713 F.2d 39, 44 n.6 (3d Cir. 1983) (“While it is true that the government is not automatically required to make such disclosure, the district court, within its discretion, may order such disclosure to ensure the effective administration of the criminal justice system.”) (citation omitted); Cannone, 528 F.2d at 298 (“It is recognized that wide latitude is reposed in the district court to carry out successfully its mandate to effectuate, as far as possible, the speedy and orderly administration of justice.”) (internal quotation marks omitted). Others have not explained the source of authority, but simply have stated that it is within a district court’s discretion to order the government to produce a witness list under appropriate circumstances. See, e.g., United States v. DeCoteau, 186 F.3d 1008, 1010 n.2 (8th Cir. 1999) (“[A] district court in this circuit may exercise its discretion to require such disclosure in a proper case.”) (internal quotation marks omitted); United States v. Rosales, 680 F.2d 1304, 1305 (10th Cir. 1981); United States v. Colson, 662 F.2d 1389, 1391 (11th Cir. 1981); United States v. Kendricks, 623 F.2d 1165, 1168 (6th Cir. 1980) (per curiam). Finally, some have grounded the authority in Rule 16 itself, see, e.g., United States v. Jordan, 466 F.2d 99, 101 (4th Cir. 1972), or in a combination of Rule 16 and Rule 2, see United States v. Fletcher, 74 F.3d 49, 54 (4th Cir. 1996). We first examine the rule-based approach. Rule 16 specifies categories of witnesses and documentary evidence that are subject to mandatory pretrial disclosure. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(a)(1) & (b)(1) (e.g., requiring the government to disclose at the defendant’s request a written summary of expert testimony the government intends to use during its case-inchief). The rule also identifies kinds of information that are not included in the mandatory disclosure categories. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(a)(2) & (b)(2) (e.g., exempting government investigative or prosecuting documents). With respect to the district court’s authority, Rule 16(d)(1) permits the court, “for 5652 UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE good cause, [to] deny, restrict, or defer discovery or inspection, or grant other appropriate relief,” and Rule 16(d)(2) grants the court broad authority to enforce “this rule,” including by any order “that is just under the circumstances.” [5] Congress has thus addressed the kinds of information the government and defendants are obligated to provide to each other before trial by way of discovery and the district court’s authority to enforce those obligations. Rule 2 bolsters that authority by instructing that the rules “are to be interpreted to provide for the just determination of every criminal proceeding, to secure simplicity in procedure and fairness in administration, and to eliminate unjustifiable expense and delay.” The thrust of Rule 16 — viewed in light of Rule 2 — is to allow the district court to ensure that the parties comply with the letter and spirit of the rule. Much of the government’s challenge to the district court’s orders here can be disposed of under the express provisions of Rule 16 — such as the disclosure of scientific reports and expert witnesses, which we shall discuss presently.8 Although Rule 16 does not expressly mandate the disclosure of nonexpert witnesses, it is not inconsistent with Rule 16 and Rule 2 for a court to order the government to produce a list of such witnesses as a matter of its discretion. See Fletcher, 74 F.3d at 54 (citing Rule 16 and Rule 2 in upholding an order for disclosure of witnesses); Jackson, 508 F.2d at 1007 (citing Rule 2 in rejecting the government’s argument that the district court’s authority to order it to disclose its witness list should be conditioned on the defense’s showing of materiality and reasonableness). Above all, nothing in Rule 16 expressly prohibits the district court from ordering additional pretrial discovery or disclosures that will also further the objectives set forth in Rule 2. See Jackson, 508 F.2d at 1006 (stating that “the present [Rule 16] is no bar to the order”). The Supreme Court has recognized that federal courts “may, 8 See Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(a)(1)(E)(ii), (a)(1)(F) & (a)(1)(G). UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE 5653 within limits, formulate procedural rules not specifically required by the Constitution or the Congress.” United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499, 505 (1983).9 Of course, “[w]hatever the scope of this ‘inherent power,’ . . . it does not include the power to develop rules that circumvent or conflict with the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.” Carlisle v. United States, 517 U.S. 416, 426 (1996); see Atchison, 146 F.3d at 1074 (“[D]istrict courts have inherent power to control their dockets, but not when its exercise would nullify the procedural choices reserved to parties under the federal rules.”). Ordering the pretrial disclosure of nonexpert witnesses does not “circumvent or conflict” with Rule 16. Carlisle, 517 U.S. at 426. The rule does not entitle the defendant to a list of such witnesses, but by the same token it does not suggest that a district court is prohibited from ordering such a disclosure. See 9 We have previously read Hasting as “limit[ing]” federal courts’ inherent powers to “three specific areas”: (1) to implement a remedy for a violation of recognized rights; (2) to preserve judicial integrity by ensuring that a criminal conviction rests on appropriate considerations validly before the jury; and (3) to deter future illegal conduct. United States v. Gonsalves, 781 F.2d 1319, 1320 (9th Cir. 1986); see also United States v. Simpson, 927 F.2d 1088, 1090 (9th Cir. 1991). Here, the government argues that because the district court’s order does not fall within any of those “three specific areas,” the order is beyond the court’s inherent powers. Our previous cases read Hasting too narrowly. There is nothing in that opinion that “limit[s]” the inherent powers to these three areas. The Supreme Court has, since Hasting, approved several exercises of inherent power that are beyond the “three specific areas” we thought Hasting delimited. E.g., Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 46 (1991) (district courts have inherent power to punish bad-faith conduct by awarding attorneys’ fees to the other side); Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 142, 146-47 (1985) (circuit courts have inherent power to establish a rule that “the failure to file objections to the magistrate’s report waives the right to appeal the district court’s judgment”). We therefore return to the understanding of inherent power that we recognized in United States v. Richter, 488 F.2d 170, 173-74 (9th Cir. 1973), according to which district courts have the inherent power to “order the government to divulge names of prospective witnesses.” 5654 UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE Jackson, 508 F.2d at 1006 (“[T]he Government fails to distinguish between the right of the defendant to demand a list of witnesses, and the authority of the court to order such disclosure under the appropriate circumstances.”). [6] As noted earlier, some courts have found an affirmative grant of authority to order the pretrial disclosure of all of the government’s proposed witnesses in Rule 16’s enforcement provisions (sometimes also invoking Rule 2). In doing so, these decisions have elided the language of Rule 16(d)(1) and (2) that appears to focus on enforcing the mandatory disclosure provisions of Rule 16 itself.10 We do not, however, have to resolve whether Rule 16 alone or in combination with Rule 2 provides sufficient authority for the district court’s orders regarding nonexpert witnesses. At the very least these rules do not preclude such orders. Further, they reinforce the logic and fairness of requiring the government to produce a pretrial witness list of both experts and nonexperts (subject to appropriate conditions) so that the parties — and the district court — may be adequately prepared for trial. That is the essential premise of the court’s inherent power to manage its cases to ensure the fair and effective administration of the criminal justice system. See United States v. Richter, 488 F.2d 170, 173-74 (9th Cir. 1973) (“It is recognized that wide latitude is reposed in the district court to carry out successfully its mandate to effectuate, as far as possible, the speedy and orderly administration of justice . . . . It would be ill-advised to limit improvidently this inherent power for fear of misuse.”).11 10 By its plain terms, Rule 16 speaks to specified kinds of discovery in criminal cases, and its enforcement provisions parallel this specificity rather than addressing the general authority of the court. Rule 16(d)(1) refers to granting relief related to “discovery or inspection,” which is Rule 16’s title; and (d)(2) authorizes courts to take certain actions “if a party fails to comply with this rule.” (Emphasis added.) But see, e.g., Fletcher, 74 F.3d at 54 (citing Rule 16 as granting authority to regulate discovery broadly). 11 Richter predated the 1993 amendments to Rule 16, in which Congress adopted provisions concerning expert witness disclosures. NotwithstandUNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE 5655 Insofar as we held in Hicks that a district court has no authority to order the government to produce a pretrial witness list beyond that specified in Rule 16, we now join our sister circuits and hold to the contrary. See Hicks, 103 F.3d at 841. In retrospect, our decision did not correctly distinguish between the mandatory disclosure requirements of Rule 16 and the district court’s discretionary authority to order pretrial disclosures of government witnesses in appropriate circumstances. In Hicks, the district court had ordered the parties to exchange witness lists and short summaries of anticipated witness testimony. Id. at 840. The defendant (not the government) objected, but eventually complied and appealed the district court’s order, arguing that “the district court did not have the authority under Rule 16 . . . to issue such an order.” Id. We agreed, stating that a “district court that orders the Government and the defendant to exchange witness lists and summaries of anticipated witness testimony in advance of trial has exceeded its authority under Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and has committed error.” Id. at 841 (emphasis added). To support this conclusion, Hicks relied on Congress’ rejection in 1975 of a proposed amendment to Rule 16 that would have required both the government and the defense to disclose their witnesses before trial. We inferred from this rejection that Congress intended to deny a district court any authority to order any pretrial witness disclosure other than that expressly provided under Rule 16. See id. Inferring from the legislative history such a sweeping denial of authority was not an inevitable conclusion. There was no suggestion that Congress intended to bar district courts from exercising their discretionary authority to order pretrial discovery and disclosures from the government under ing these amendments, we do not read Congress as precluding district courts’ authority to regulate the discovery of nonexpert witnesses just because Congress specifically adopted certain rules pertaining to expert witness disclosures. The reasons for not limiting such authority are well expressed in Richter, 488 F.2d at 173-74. 5656 UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE terms and conditions that courts normally use to manage the fair and efficient conduct of trials. Rather, Congress was concerned that a mandatory disclosure rule would discourage government witnesses from testifying and lead to witness intimidation. See Napue, 834 F.2d at 1317 (“The conference committee expressed concern that such a requirement would discourage witnesses from testifying and would lead to ‘improper contact directed at influencing their testimony.’ ”) (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 94-414, at 12 (1975) (Conf. Rep.), reprinted in 1975 U.S.C.C.A.N. 713, 716). Congress said nothing about the district court’s discretion to order such a pretrial disclosure, subject to the court’s ability to tailor disclosures to specific concerns in a particular case, including the use of protective orders. See, e.g., United States v. Fort, 472 F.3d 1106, 1131 (9th Cir. 2007). We therefore conclude that Hicks adopted an overly broad reading of Rule 16 and unnecessarily restricted the district court’s discretionary authority to order discovery from the prosecution. [7] In sum, we hold that a district court, consistent with Rule 16 and Rule 2 and as part of the court’s inherent authority to manage its docket, may in appropriate circumstances require the government to disclose a final list of its proposed trial witnesses and has the authority to enforce such an order. Hicks is overruled to the extent that it applied to such disclosures by the government.
The government contends that, even if the orders were authorized, both the March 2005 order and the enforcement orders were an abuse of the court’s discretion. We do not agree. Although a district court’s discretion to order pretrial discovery is not unfettered, the district court did not abuse its discretion here. [8] We first address the court’s orders insofar as they concerned expert disclosures and scientific reports, the disclosure UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE 5657 of which is governed by Rule 16(a). Subsections (a)(1)(G), (a)(1)(E)(ii) and (a)(1)(F) of Rule 16 require the government to disclose, at the defendant’s request, a summary of any expert witness testimony the government intends to use during its case-in-chief at trial as well as “the bases and reasons for those opinions”; documents within the government’s possession, custody or control that the government intends to use; and certain scientific reports. The March 2005 case management order expressly implemented those provisions by requiring the timely disclosure of the government’s expert witnesses and an expert report tailored to the issues on which each expert is expected to testify. The December 2005 enforcement order also clarified that expert disclosures must identify the documents or information that the expert reviewed in preparing his or her report, a condition well within Rule 16’s requirement that expert disclosures describe “the bases and reasons for those opinions.” The district court’s orders imposing and enforcing these expert witness disclosures were clearly within its Rule 16 authority and not an abuse of its discretion. Next, as to both expert and nonexpert witnesses, the government argues that requiring it to disclose its final list of witnesses a year before trial was unreasonable and that the district court’s exclusion of witnesses and reports not disclosed by December 5, 2005 was an inappropriate sanction. We reject the government’s objections for several reasons. [9] First, the district court’s March 2005 order set a relatively early deadline for the government to provide a final witness list in advance of the then-scheduled September 2006 trial. The record reflects that the court had good reason to impose such a deadline, however; the court believed that the deadline would bring the necessary focus and organization to ready the case for trial. The charged conspiracy reaches back nearly 30 years, the government now proposes to call more than 200 witnesses, there are many defendants and allegations, and millions of pages of documents have been produced 5658 UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE during discovery. Such a complex case poses special challenges to the parties in preparing for trial and to the court in managing the litigation. Moreover, the government itself had initially suggested a September 2005 trial date, indicating to the district court that the government could be prepared for trial by then. When asked in the March 2005 status conference whether the government could make its expert disclosures by the end of September, the prosecutor responded, “[t]hat would be good,” and when asked about a finalized list of witnesses and trial exhibits by the end of September, he said he “d[id]n’t have a problem with that.” The government also did not object to the disclosure deadlines set by the March 2005 order. Rather, when it filed its supposed “final” list in September 2005 it simply and unilaterally reserved its “right” to supplement the list up to the time of trial. Given the size and complexity of the case and the government’s acquiescence in the dates for final witness and document disclosures, the district court’s March 2005 order was reasonable and not an abuse of discretion.12 Second, the government mischaracterizes the enforcement orders as an exclusionary “sanction.” The enforcement orders were not imposed as a sanction; they simply enforce the earlier pretrial order requiring the timely identification of trial witnesses and documentary evidence. In March 2005, when the government told the court it was prepared to try the case that September, the government estimated it would be calling 60 to 80 witnesses; by the time it filed its witness list on September 30, the number of witnesses had grown to 233 and counting. At the December 2005 status hearing, the district court rejected the government’s arguments for expanding the list further, finding that the government “cannot now credibly claim that it is necessary to continue adding witnesses to an already unwieldy list.” Accordingly, it ruled that “the govern12 Notably, the district court did not take a rigid approach, effectively converting the September 30 deadline to a December 5 deadline by virtue of the December 2005 order. UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE 5659 ment’s presentation at trial will be limited to those witnesses that have been disclosed as of the filing of this Order [i.e., December 5, 2005],” later clarifying in the February 2006 order that this limitation applied only to the government’s case-in-chief, not to rebuttal witnesses. Given the many discussions the court had with counsel about the fluid nature of the government’s evolving case and the court’s expressed concerns that the government seemed unable to get its trial preparation under control, it could hardly have been a surprise that the court froze the witness list when and as it did. Third, even if we were to view the enforcement orders as a sanction, they still would not be an abuse of the court’s discretion. At the outset, we emphasize that we are addressing only the preclusive effect of the enforcement orders as they currently stand because, apart from this interlocutory appeal, the government has thus far sought no relief from the district court’s orders with respect to any particular excluded witness. We do not know whether the district court would be persuaded to allow the government to add or substitute one or more new witnesses for good cause. See, e.g., D. Mont. R. 7.3 (permitting a party to seek relief from the district court if it finds new evidence and can demonstrate good cause). Nonetheless, the government relies on United States v. Finley, 301 F.3d 1000 (9th Cir. 2002), for the proposition that the exclusion of witnesses can be imposed as a sanction only when the district court finds the violation of a disclosure order was “willful and motivated by a desire to obtain a tactical advantage.” Id. at 1018 (quoting Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U.S. 400, 415 (1988)). Because the district court made no such findings in this case, the government contends the exclusion orders cannot stand. Finley, however, like Taylor, involved a defendant’s right to present evidence, not the government’s, and has no bearing here. See Finley, 301 F.3d at 1018 (“Because the Supreme Court has recognized that ‘[f]ew rights are more fundamental than that of an accused to present witnesses in his own defense,’ Taylor, 484 U.S. at 408, courts should use 5660 UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE particular caution in applying the drastic remedy of excluding a witness altogether.”). Finally, the government argues that even if a court can legitimately compel the government to disclose its witness list, it cannot force the government to finalize that list on penalty of exclusion of later discovered witnesses, particularly a year before trial. Relying on United States v. Gatto, 763 F.2d 1040, 1046 (9th Cir. 1985), it contends the district court’s orders violated the separation of powers principle by improperly commandeering the government’s investigatory and prosecutorial functions. Of course, the orders did no such thing — as we have discussed, they dealt with managing the proceedings inside the courtroom, not with the government’s performance of its prosecutorial duties outside the courtroom. The government’s discretion to investigate and present its case does not override the district court’s authority to manage the trial proceedings — including by setting discovery and disclosure deadlines — and Gatto does not hold otherwise.13 The government’s reliance on Gatto is misplaced. That case involved a district court order requiring the government to provide discovery in accordance with Rule 16. Four weeks before trial and well after the discovery disclosure deadline had passed, the government belatedly learned that cooperating state officials had relevant documents that should have been produced to the defendants. Invoking its authority under both Rule 16(d)(2) and the court’s inherent supervisory power, the district court precluded use of the evidence during the govern13 Although Gatto has been bemoaned as “lay[ing] down an inflexible rule — the government has an absolute right to call its lately acquired witness whatever the consequences to the administration of justice in other respects,” United States v. Schwartz, 857 F.2d 655, 660 (9th Cir. 1988) (Hupp, J., concurring), we disavow that it did create such an “absolute rule,” as we explain in text. As the majority in Schwartz itself recognized, a district court may exclude documents or witnesses for failure to comply with the court’s pretrial or discovery orders. See Schwartz, 857 F.2d at 659. UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE 5661 ment’s case in-chief. Id. at 1043. On the government’s § 3731 appeal, we held that the court lacked authority under either its supervisory power or Rule 16. As to the former, we emphasized that the government’s delay in disclosure had not violated “any constitutional provision, federal statute, specific discovery order, or any other recognized right except perhaps [R]ule 16.” Id. at 1046. There was no need to resort to the court’s inherent supervisory power to create any other remedy for a violation of Rule 16 because the rule itself contains specific remedies for its violation. See id. As to Rule 16, we expressly held that the government’s failure to disclose the documents earlier did not violate the rule because the stateheld documents were not in the government’s actual possession. Id. at 1049. Unlike Gatto, here the government would violate Rule 16 if it were to call expert witnesses who were not timely disclosed. Therefore, the district court may properly rely on its Rule 16 authority where appropriate to enforce its orders. As to the disclosures not mandated by Rule 16, the court has inherent authority to enforce its specific discovery order, which the government would violate if it were to call undisclosed nonexpert witnesses. First, with respect to the expert disclosures, the district court’s March 2005 order was well within the bounds of Rule 16, as we have already discussed. The government did not object to the order, but instead reserved to itself a right to supplement its disclosures through the close of evidence at trial. The district court had the authority under Rule 16(d)(2) to reject this unilateral reservation of rights and enforce the discovery requirements mandated by the rule; it did not need to resort to its inherent authority. Second, as to the March 2005 order’s mandate to disclose nonexpert witnesses, who do not come within the express terms of Rule 16, nothing in Gatto — or in Rule 16 itself, as we have discussed in Section III(A) — precludes a district court from relying on its inherent authority to order such witness disclosures or to enforce its order. As Gatto expressly noted, the government had not violated “any . . . specific discovery 5662 UNITED STATES v. W. R. GRACE order.” Id. at 1046. Here there was such an order, and if it is violated, the district court may exclude evidence as a sanction. Although there are limits to the district court’s inherent authority, the district court here is well within its authority to manage its docket in enforcing a valid pretrial discovery order. See United States v. Talbot, 51 F.3d 183, 187-88 & n.5 (9th Cir. 1995)(distinguishing Gatto and upholding exclusion of government witnesses for violation of pretrial disclosure order).