Opinion ID: 366922
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: propriety of mandamus relief

Text: 7 Under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651, all federal courts may issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law. The statute is conjunctive; the writ must be both in aid of jurisdiction and agreeable to the law governing the use of prerogative writs. Since this court does not have a general original jurisdiction, we can issue a writ of mandamus only in aid of some present or potential exercise of appellate jurisdiction. Roche v. Evaporated Milk Assn., 319 U.S. 21, 25, 63 S.Ct. 938, 87 L.Ed. 1185 (1943). While that rule does not require that the action complained of in the mandamus petition be itself an appealable order, See, e. g., id.; United States v. Mellon Bank, N. A., 545 F.2d 869, 872 (3d Cir. 1976), the action must nevertheless involve subject matter to which our appellate jurisdiction could in some manner, at some time, attach. See, e. g., United States v. Helstoski, 576 F.2d 511, 516 (3d Cir.), Cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 99 S.Ct. 719, 58 L.Ed.2d 704 (1978); In re United States, 348 F.2d 624, 625 (1st Cir. 1965). Thus we can consider the petition only after first identifying the way in which the action complained of affects some appellate jurisdiction, present or future. 1 8 In the pending criminal case the district court's grant of defendants' Rule 16 request could not be reviewed at the behest of the parties even after a conviction. The government proposed the disclosure of all grand jury documents, and thus would not be aggrieved. The defendants were being tendered even greater discovery than they had originally sought, and thus could not press the ruling as a ground for reversal of a conviction. 2 Our potential appellate jurisdiction over the judgment of sentence, 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and over other aspects of the criminal proceedings, 18 U.S.C. § 3731, is therefore irrelevant. We can only entertain the petition if NL's own interest in the ruling is somehow within our potential appellate jurisdiction. 9 We conclude that NL meets this requirement. In Perlman v. United States, 247 U.S. 7, 38 S.Ct. 417, 62 L.Ed. 950 (1918), the Court held that the owner of exhibits could intervene in a criminal grand jury proceeding to object to their disclosure on a ground of privilege, even when the exhibits were in the possession of a third party. Moreover, the Court held that the order denying intervention and privilege was collaterally final for purposes of appeal. See also Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 608 n.1, 92 S.Ct. 2614, 33 L.Ed.2d 583 (1972). The Perlman rule has also been applied in a trial, rather than grand jury context, to allow an intervention and appeal to challenge the production of subpoenaed documents. See United States v. Nixon,418 U.S. 683, 688, 690-92, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974). We have applied the same principle in permitting intervention for the assertion of claims of privilege when subpoenas are addressed to third parties. In re Grand Jury Investigation (Intervenor A), 587 F.2d 589 (3d Cir. 1978); In re Grand Jury Proceedings (Cianfrani), 563 F.2d 577 (3d Cir. 1977); In the Matter of Grand Jury Impaneled Jan. 21, 1975 (Freedman), 541 F.2d 373 (3d Cir. 1976). Thus it is settled law that persons affected by the disclosure of allegedly privileged materials may intervene in pending criminal proceedings and seek protective orders, and if protection is denied, seek immediate appellate review. In this instance, while NL did not file a formal motion for intervention, it was served with notice of the government's motion to disclose grand jury documents, and its participation was invited by the court. Like Mr. Nixon in United States v. Nixon, supra, NL appeared specially in the proceedings and was treated, De facto, as an intervenor. Moreover, while the Nixon case concerned an intervention to contest a Fed.R.Crim.P. 17(c) subpoena, there is no discernible difference in effect between the enforcement of a Rule 17(c) subpoena and the grant of a Rule 16 discovery request. We conclude, therefore, that NL had standing to intervene, that it did in fact intervene, and that the denial of its application for a protective order resulted in a ruling over which we have potential appellate jurisdiction. 10 That does not end the inquiry, however, for the presence of potential appellate jurisdiction may implicate the oft-repeated dictum that a petition for mandamus will not ordinarily be granted where an adequate appellate remedy otherwise exists. E. g., Schlagenhauf v. Holder, 379 U.S. 104, 110, 85 S.Ct. 234, 13 L.Ed.2d 152 (1964). The cases announcing that rule, however, are predicated upon the assumption that mandamus should not, except in extraordinary circumstances, be used as a device for avoiding the policies of the final judgment rule. See e. g., Will v. United States, 389 U.S. 90, 96, 88 S.Ct. 269, 19 L.Ed.2d 305 (1967). But where, as here, the order which is the subject matter of the petition is, under the governing case law, reviewable as collaterally final, there are no finality considerations militating against treating a petition for mandamus as the equivalent of a notice of appeal. Several courts have done so. E. g., United States v. Green, 162 U.S.App.D.C. 402, 404, 499 F.2d 538, 540 n.5 (1974) (per curiam); National Org. For Reform of Marijuana Laws v. Ingersoll, 162 U.S.App.D.C. 67, 69, 497 F.2d 654, 656 n.3 (1974); Strauss v. Smith, 417 F.2d 132, 133 (7th Cir. 1969). If the order being challenged could have been the subject of a § 1291 appeal, to consider a mandamus petition instead of such an appeal simply involves a difference in the scope of review under the appellate and mandamus remedies. In this case, however, there are no significant differences in scope of review, because the only relief sought is an order directing the district court to consider and rule on the merits of NL's request for a protective order covering the 54 documents in issue. We do not believe that our consideration of that request would differ in any significant degree had NL proceeded by appeal rather than by mandamus. We therefore turn to the merits of NL's request for a protective order.