Opinion ID: 465022
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Telephone message books, logs and memoranda....

Text: 173 From this description alone, we cannot determine that the above documents would come within a judicial privilege. Most such documents would not ordinarily be expected to reveal the substance of communications among Judge Hastings, his colleagues, and his staff concerning Judge Hastings' official duties. That Judge Hastings met or spoke with a particular visitor at a particular time, without more, would not involve the substance of the communications between them. 28 Cf. In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 689 F.2d 1351, 1352 (11th Cir.1982) (attorney-client privilege ordinarily applies only to content of communications, not to dates, places, or times of meetings). 174 Moreover, even if the subpoenaed materials were to include some substantive matters that fell within the privilege, we conclude, for reasons stated subsequently in our discussion relating to Simons and Miller, that the privilege would not support Williams' refusal to comply. The seriousness of the Committee's investigation, and the apparent relevance of the subpoenaed documents to that investigation, would justify enforcement of the subpoena in these circumstances regardless of the assertion of privilege, the privilege being qualified, not absolute. See infra. We accordingly reject Williams' assertion of privilege to justify non-compliance with the Committee's subpoena duces tecum. 29 175 Turning next to the testimony of Simons and Miller before the Committee, our review of the transcripts leaves little doubt that the boundaries of the judicial privilege do encompass the subject matter of the Committee's inquiries to them. They invoked the privilege in response to questions probing the core of the confidentiality interest at stake: communications among Judge Hastings and his staff concerning matters pending before Judge Hastings. That the privilege applies, however, does not end the matter. The judicial privilege is only qualified, not absolute; it can be overcome in an appropriate case. 176 The Supreme Court in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, has made clear that the executive privilege is a qualified one: 177 However, neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances. The President's need for complete candor and objectivity from advisers calls for great deference from the courts. However, when the privilege depends solely on the broad, undifferentiated claim of public interest in the confidentiality of such conversations, a confrontation with other values arises. Absent a claim of need to protect military, diplomatic, or sensitive national security secrets, we find it difficult to accept the argument that even the very important interest in confidentiality of Presidential communications is significantly diminished by production of such material for in camera inspection with all the protection that a district court will be obliged to provide. 178 The impediment that an absolute, unqualified privilege would place in the way of the primary constitutional duty of the Judicial Branch to do justice in criminal prosecutions would plainly conflict with the function of the courts under Art. III. In designing the structure of our Government and dividing and allocating the sovereign power among three co-equal branches, the Framers of the Constitution sought to provide a comprehensive system, but the separate powers were not intended to operate with absolute independence. 179 While the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable government. It enjoins upon its branches separateness but interdependence, autonomy but reciprocity. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. , at 635 [72 S.Ct. 863, at 870, 96 L.Ed. 1153 (1952) ] (Jackson, J., concurring). 180 To read the Art. II powers of the President as providing an absolute privilege as against a subpoena essential to enforcement of criminal statutes on no more than a generalized claim of the public interest in confidentiality of nonmilitary and nondiplomatic discussions would upset the constitutional balance of a workable government and gravely impair the role of the courts under Art. III. 181 Id. at 706-07, 94 S.Ct. at 3106-07. The judicial privilege, arising from similar constitutional underpinnings, shares similar limitations and restrictions. 30 Like any testimonial privilege, the judicial privilege must be harmonized with the principle that  'the public ... has a right to every man's evidence.'  United States v. Bryan, 339 U.S. 323, 331, 70 S.Ct. 724, 730, 94 L.Ed. 884 (1950). This principle is no less applicable to proceedings under the Act than to criminal proceedings. 182 Once the party asserting the privilege has met the burden of showing that the matters under inquiry implicate communications among a judge and his staff concerning performance of judicial business--as Simons and Miller have shown here--those matters are presumptively privileged and need not be disclosed unless the investigating party can demonstrate that its need for the materials is sufficiently great to overcome the privilege. To meet this burden, the investigating party can attempt to show the importance of the inquiry for which the privileged information is sought; the relevance of that information to its inquiry; and the difficulty of obtaining the desired information through alternative means. The court then must weigh the investigating party's demonstrated need for the information against the degree of intrusion upon the confidentiality of privileged communications necessary to satisfy that need. We hold that the judicial privilege asserted by Simons and Miller on Judge Hastings' behalf is overridden, under the circumstances present here, by the Committee's need for Simons' and Miller's testimony to further its investigation. 183 There can be no question that the Committee's investigation is a matter of surpassing importance. While criminal remedies may no longer be in issue, a proceeding which could result in recommending the exoneration of a sitting Article III judge, or in certifying to the House of Representatives that consideration of impeachment may be warranted, obviously implicates concerns of fairness and thoroughness of a high order. And the charges being investigated--particularly the allegation of bribery--are grave. 31 As we said in our previous opinion arising out of the Hastings investigation, 184 Moreover, the question under investigation--whether an Article III judge should be recommended for impeachment by the Congress, otherwise disciplined, or granted a clean bill of health--is a matter of great societal importance. Given the character of an investigating committee and what is at stake--the public confidence in the judiciary, the independence and reputation of the accused judge--paragraph (c)(5) must in our view be read, with very few strings, as conferring authority to look into whatever is material to a determination of the truth or falsity of the charges. 185 In re Petition to Inspect and Copy Grand Jury Materials, 735 F.2d at 1269-70. 186 The Committee's inquiries of Simons and Miller, like the grand jury records the Committee sought and obtained in its previous suit, appear closely pertinent to the Committee's effective discharge of its responsibilities under the Act. These inquiries relate to the role played by Simons and Miller in the preparation of an order entered by Judge Hastings on October 6, 1981 in United States v. Romano, 523 F.Supp. 1209, an order that was alleged to be the result of bribery. The Committee could hardly undertake a full and complete investigation of a complaint growing out of charges that a judge's ruling was influenced by bribery without questioning the judge's staff about the in-chambers communications that led to the particular ruling. We can think of no adequate substitute for this line of questioning, assuming the Committee's investigation is to be meaningful. The Committee's particular questions to Simons and Miller adhere to this legitimate investigatory goal. 187 We recognize that the Committee already possesses records of the Hastings grand jury proceedings, apparently including transcripts of the grand jury's examination of Simons and Miller, and that the Committee may also possess transcripts of the Hastings and Borders criminal trials, apparently including examination of Miller. But possession of these does not defeat the Committee's authority to compel Simons and Miller to testify before it. As to matters not addressed in their prior testimony, ipso facto there exists no previous testimony to diminish the Committee's need to hear these witnesses' testimony now; as to matters that were previously testified to, the force of any asserted privilege is mitigated somewhat--even absent any formal waiver by Judge Hastings 32 --by the fact that these witnesses already have testified previously and thereby breached confidentiality to some degree. See Nixon v. Sirica, 487 F.2d 700, 718 (D.C.Cir.1973) (confidentiality of taped Presidential conversations substantially diminishe[d] by public testimony concerning the substance of those conversations). 188 More important, regardless of how much prior testimony of Simons and Miller the Committee may possess or acquire in transcript form, the Committee is entitled to believe that live testimony is crucial to the goal of a thorough investigation. Only through the medium of such testimony can the Committee hear and judge for itself the demeanor and credibility of relevant witnesses, rather than be relegated to reliance on a cold transcript. Given the importance of the investigation, this goal of thoroughness is a weighty one. As we noted in our previous opinion in this matter, 189 The Committee is charged under the Act with conducting an investigation in order to further the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts.... 28 U.S.C. Sec. 372(c)(6)(B). As already noted, the Committee's investigation is to be as extensive as it considers necessary. Section 372(c)(5). A thorough investigation is essential not only to ensure the integrity of federal judges, but also to instill public confidence in the judiciary.... The Committee must be able to represent to the Council, and the Council must be satisfied, that all available evidence of possible materiality has been sifted: for the Committee to examine matters extensively and find nothing may be as much a part of its duty as to look at evidence whose incriminating nature is known in advance. The object of the investigation is not to prove a case against the judge but to determine whether there is or is not a case. 190 In re Petition to Inspect and Copy Grand Jury Materials, 735 F.2d at 1273. See also Nixon v. Sirica, 487 F.2d at 717 (President must turn over, in compliance with grand jury subpoena, relevant portions of taped Presidential conversations; court stresses importance of thorough grand jury investigation to fulfill grand jury's function not only to indict persons when there is probable cause to believe they have committed crime, but also to protect persons from prosecution when probable cause does not exist). Allowing witnesses to withhold evidence relevant to the Committee's investigation could call into question the Committee's ability to arrive at an accurate recommendation and thus could gravely impair the Committee's performance of its statutorily-assigned functions. Under all the circumstances, therefore, we place a heavy weight on the Committee's need for the testimony of Simons and Miller concerning the subject matter as to which they asserted a privilege. 191 Under the principles enunciated in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, the Committee's need for the testimony of Simons and Miller must be weighed against Judge Hastings' interest in the confidentiality of the in-chambers communications that may be revealed. In Nixon the Court held that the need for relevant evidence in criminal proceedings overrode the President's assertion of a generalized privilege of confidentiality. Id. at 712 n. 19, 94 S.Ct. at 3109 n. 19. The Court placed substantial emphasis on the general nature of the asserted interest, carefully distinguishing it from a specific claim of need to protect military, diplomatic, or sensitive national security secrets. Id. at 706, 94 S.Ct. at 3106; see id. at 710, 712 n. 19, 94 S.Ct. at 3108, 3109 n. 19. The Court accordingly held, 192 A President's acknowledged need for confidentiality in the communications of his office is general in nature, whereas the constitutional need for production of relevant evidence in a criminal proceeding is specific and central to the fair adjudication of a particular criminal case in the administration of justice. Without access to specific facts a criminal prosecution may be totally frustrated. The President's broad interest in confidentiality of communications will not be vitiated by disclosure of a limited number of conversations preliminarily shown to have some bearing on the pending criminal cases. 193 We conclude that when the ground for asserting privilege as to subpoenaed materials sought for use in a criminal trial is based only on the generalized interest in confidentiality, it cannot prevail over the fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of criminal justice. The generalized assertion of privilege must yield to the demonstrated, specific need for evidence in a pending criminal trial. 194 Id. at 712-13, 94 S.Ct. at 3109-10. 195 In the instant case, as well, Judge Hastings' assertion of a confidentiality interest is generalized in nature. Judge Hastings has not directed the attention of this court to any further, specific need for secrecy over and above those needs which normally apply and give rise, in the first place, to a privilege. On the other side of the balance, again, the Committee's particular need for these witnesses' testimony implicates concerns of great moment. 196 The procedures surrounding an investigation under the Act, too, present circumstances which mitigate the force of Judge Hastings' confidentiality interest in avoiding testimony about assertedly privileged communications. In Nixon, the Court--as a means of protecting confidentiality to the maximum possible extent--ordered in camera examination by the district court of the subpoenaed tape recordings and documents. Id. at 706, 714-16, 94 S.Ct. at 3106, 3110-11. The principle, of course, is that disclosure of privileged information to a federal judge constitutes an extremely limited breach of confidentiality, see Nixon v. Sirica, 487 F.2d at 719-20, since federal judges can be expected as an obligation of their office to respect the confidentiality of sensitive or privileged information. See also Kerr v. United States District Court, 426 U.S. 394, 405-06, 96 S.Ct. 2119, 2125-26, 48 L.Ed.2d 725 (1976); In re Grand Jury Proceedings in Matter of Freeman, 708 F.2d 1571, 1576 (11th Cir.1983). In the instant case, the Committee itself consists of federal judges, so disclosure of the substance of the privileged communications here threatens Judge Hastings' confidentiality interest little more than would in camera examination. See In re Petition to Inspect and Copy Grand Jury Materials, 735 F.2d at 1274. Federal judges will be uniquely cognizant of the need to safeguard the confidentiality of in-chambers communications among an Article III judge and his staff. 33 In addition, any privileged testimony or documents received by the Committee will remain confidential under the provisions of section 372(c)(14) of the Act. 34 Therefore, having weighed the competing concerns in the balance, we hold that the Committee's need for these witnesses' testimony outweighs Judge Hastings' asserted interest in non-disclosure. 197 We add that while the Committee's questions to Simons and Miller were manifestly relevant here, we would enforce the subpoenas upon a lesser showing of relevance so long as a reasonable degree of materiality could be discerned. Where, as here, a judicial council investigation concerns allegations of unquestionable seriousness, we believe that, given the make-up of judicial councils and the secrecy surrounding their investigations under the Act, any subpoena for material protected only by an asserted generalized need for confidentiality should be enforceable so long as the information sought does not on its face seem irrelevant to the investigation. The issuance of such a subpoena means that Article III judges already have satisfied themselves of the relevance of, and need for, the information sought and the existence of probable cause for the investigation itself. See also In re Grand Jury Proceedings in Matter of Freeman, 708 F.2d 1571, 1575 (11th Cir.1983) (grand jury subpoena is enforceable without a specific showing of relevance and need, despite witness' claim that enforcement of the subpoena could impair the right enjoyed by the target of the investigation to counsel of his choice); In re Slaughter, 694 F.2d 1258, 1260 (11th Cir.1982); In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 694 F.2d 1256, 1258 (11th Cir.1982). We need not determine here whether more (or less) scope might be given to the assertion of a claim of judicial privilege in other contexts, such as where the investigation is aimed at conduct less serious than the potentially impeachable offense of bribery; where a privilege is asserted to protect specific sensitive items rather than to promote a generalized need for confidentiality; or where a privilege is invoked in a proceeding other than an investigation under the Act. 198 For the reasons stated, the court finds 1) that it has exclusive original jurisdiction to determine motions to enforce or quash subpoenas issued under its seal pursuant to the Act; 2) that appellants' constitutional and technical objections to the Committee's issuance and service of subpoenas either are beyond this court's jurisdiction, may not properly be decided in the present proceedings, or lack merit; and 3) that the Committee's subpoenas directed to appellants are enforceable despite appellants' invocation of a privilege protecting communications among Judge Hastings and his staff. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. The motions to quash filed by Williams, Ehrlich, and Simons are DENIED. Williams and Ehrlich are ordered to comply with the Committee's subpoenas at a time and place to be prescribed by the Committee. Simons and Miller are ordered to testify fully as to all pertinent matters at a time and place to be prescribed by the Committee. 199 So ordered.