Court Opinion

ID: 9461687
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:22:48.507611+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:13.656509
License: Public Domain

LUMBARD, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I concur.
The only real issue I see here is the sufficiency of the government’s denial that it directly or indirectly relied on electronic surveillance in formulating the questions asked of appellants before the grand jury. That denial consisted of two parts — the affidavit submitted to the district court and the testimony of the assistant United States attorney be*159fore that court. While the affidavit itself was probably insufficient under the standards we set down in United States v. Toscanino, 500 F.2d 267, 281 (2 Cir., 1974), because it failed to list the government agencies that had been checked, that insufficiency was cured when the assistant testified before Judge Newman that he had checked with the FBI agent in charge of the investigation in this case.
It must be remembered that any electronic surveillance by the government is relevant only if it is somehow used in formulating questions that the grand jury intends to ask. Thus, surveillance conducted by the government, the results of which were not known to the agents investigating this case, would not be relevant. In light of these considerations I think that Judge Newman was correct in finding that the affidavit was sufficient. I think that the assistant United States attorney handling a case and the FBI agent in charge of the investigation of a case are the two people most likely to know if the fruits of any electronic surveillance were used to gain information on which the grand jury would base its questions.1 Thus, I think that the denial was sufficient.2
Section 3504 must be construed so that investigations by the government conducted through grand juries may be conducted with appropriate speed, while at the same time adequately protecting the rights of witnesses. To interpret the section as urged by appellants would unduly impede and delay the grand jury’s investigation as it would allow a witness to thwart the operation of the grand jury by requiring that its proceedings cease while a district court undertakes an extensive investigation of the government investigators who are investigating the witness. I cannot believe that the Congress intended that section 3504 be given such an interpretation. I think that Judge Newman correctly balanced the competing interests involved here. See, e. g., In re Mintzer, No. 74-1388, 511 F.2d 471 (1st Cir. 1974). See generally United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 94 S.Ct. 613, 38 L.Ed.2d 561 (1974).
Thus, I concur in Judge Timbers’ opinion.

. While it might be a salutary practice for the government to make further inquiries than it did here, if only to preclude the attack made here, I do not think that the law requires such further inquiries. In re Mintzer, No. 74-1388, at 472 n. 2, 511 F.2d 471 (1st Cir. 1974).

. Appellants cite an example of a broader affidavit used in the Southern District and suggest it as an example to be followed. In addition to the FBI, that affidavit covered the Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Customs Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Postal Service. I do not understand the connection between the appellants or their lawyers in this case and counterfeiting, threats on the President’s life, unpaid taxes, bootlegging, firearms violations, smuggling, drug abuse or mail-related offenses.