Court Opinion

ID: 9474424
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:56:51.851554+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:04.460676
License: Public Domain

FEINBERG, Chief Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent from the decision to affirm the district court’s order denying the motion to quash the grand jury subpoena to attorney Slotnick. I agree with the conclusion reached by the majority in the panel decision, and by Judge Cardamone in his dissenting opinion in this rehearing in banc, that the subpoena should be quashed absent a government showing of need. However, I add a few additional observations, and, due primarily to the change in circumstances since the panel decision, I reach decision by a somewhat different route.
1. Assuming this appeal is not moot or in a posture so changed as to require remand, an issue discussed below, I believe that the district court should have quashed the subpoena for the reasons stated by the panel majority in In re Grand Jury Subpoena Served on John Doe, Esq., 759 F.2d 968 (2d Cir.1985). The panel majority assumed that Sixth Amendment concerns came into play because the government conceded that Barry Slotnick, counsel for the target of the grand jury’s investigation (Anthony Colombo), would be disqualified if he testified before the grand jury. 759 F.2d at 970. Government counsel told the district judge: “[W]e realize Mr. Slotnick would probably be conflicted out if he gave testimony to the Grand Jury that was useful. I think that he probably will_” The in banc majority, in its footnote 1, refuses to “interpret this statement of the government as a concession that Slotnick would be disqualified.” I believe that the statement is such a concession and that, in any event, “probable” disqualification is enough to bring the Sixth Amendment into play. Furthermore, now that Colombo has been indicted on related offenses, it is obvious that Sixth Amendment considerations now apply, as the in banc majority opinion concedes in Part III of the opinion. Therefore, I do not address the question of what the rule should be, in the absence of the government’s concession or the subsequent indictment, since that question was not before the district court and is not before us; if it were, I believe that a persuasive argument could be made for quashing the subpoena based upon the court’s supervisory power, United States v. Jacobs, 531 F.2d 87 (2d Cir.), vacated, 429 U.S. 909, 97 S.Ct. 299, 50 L.Ed.2d 277 (1976), on remand, 547 F.2d 772 (2d Cir.1976), cert. dismissed, 436 U.S. 31, 98 S.Ct. 1873, 56 L.Ed.2d 53 (1978). Indeed, the situation contemplated in foot*253note 3 of the majority opinion, where obtaining an attorney’s testimony would produce a “snowball effect” and deprive a defendant of any retained counsel, would seem to call for such an exercise of supervisory power.
2. The issue that is before us involves the clash between Colombo’s obvious Sixth Amendment right to representation by counsel of his choice and the principle that no one is exempt from the duty to give evidence before a grand jury so that it can conduct a wide-ranging investigation of criminal activity. On this difficult question, the panel’s analysis was fundamentally sound. It recognized the need to protect Sixth Amendment rights while not unduly infringing on the grand jury’s investigative function. The compromise reached by the panel majority was sensible. It required the government to make a showing — in addition to mere relevance — that it needs the evidence. Indeed, as Judge Cardamone points out in his dissenting in banc opinion, the government apparently agrees that this is an appropriate standard. The Department of Justice Guidelines attached to the end of the government’s brief to us state that “[a]ll reasonable attempts shall be made to obtain information from alternative sources before issuing a subpoena to an attorney relating to the representation of a client....” (emphasis supplied), and provide that authorization shall be forthcoming from the Assistant Attorney General only where there are “reasonable grounds to believe that ... the information sought is reasonably needed for the successful completion of the investigation or prosecution. The subpoena must not be used to obtain peripheral or speculative information.” (emphasis supplied).
The burden on the government is not that unusual; as amici remind us, there is a similar burden on a party seeking information through subpoenas directed to members of the news media and in civil cases involving discovery of attorney’s work product. See, e.g., United States v. Burke, 700 F.2d 70, 77 (2d Cir.1983) (media); Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 510-12, 67 S.Ct. 385, 393-94, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947) (work product). See also Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 709-10, 92 S.Ct. 2646, 2670-71, 33 L.Ed.2d 626 (1972) (Powell, J., concurring) (media). It seems obvious that a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right is entitled to no less protection than a newspaper reporter’s First Amendment right or an attorney’s work product. In this case, although it claims that an important grand jury investigation is being hampered, the government made no attempt to satisfy the test laid down by the panel majority. To the contrary, it now appears that Slotnick’s evidence is not necessary to enable the grand jury to indict; in its brief to us and at oral argument, the government indicates that the information is sought for the purpose of corroborating testimony and to obtain evidence useful at trial.
More fundamentally, however, the in banc majority opinion trivializes Sixth Amendment concerns. It bears repeating that “while the witness before us is a lawyer, the crucial interests at stake belong to the whole community.” In re Terkeltoub, 256 F.Supp. 683, 684 (S.D.N.Y.1966). It is society, not simply the lawyer under subpoena or his indicted client, that “ ‘would feel the consequences’ of a practice impairing the lawyer’s effective representation of his client.” Id., quoting in part from Hickman v. Taylor, supra, 329 U.S. at 515, 67 S.Ct. at 395 (Jackson, J., concurring). Yet, under the majority’s analysis, the government is not required to show any “need” for the information sought except that it is “highly probative.” Majority op. p. 251. In other words, once the latter determination is made, the Sixth Amendment carries no weight at all. However, in this context, when Sixth Amendment concerns concededly apply and “the probative value of the information” sought is weighed “against the loss of counsel of the accused’s choice,” id. at 250, the government should have to show that the evidence, if unprivileged, cannot be obtained elsewhere, or can be obtained only with great difficulty, not simply that the evidence is “highly probative.” *254To require less erodes Sixth Amendment protections.
The in banc majority also dismisses Sixth Amendment concerns on the ground that “trial is not imminent,” majority op. p. 251, doubtless relying on its earlier suggestion that the problem of disqualification can be worked out at a hearing closer to trial. The majority pays little, if any, attention to the immediate impact on the attorney-client relationship of having an indicted defendant’s counsel testify before a grand jury against his will, beyond asserting that the appearance will not be “time-consuming.” Id. Obviously, the uncertainty as to whether his chosen counsel will eventually be removed will affect both a defendant’s readiness to rely upon counsel, see In re Special Grand Jury No. 81-1 (Harvey), 676 F.2d 1005, 1009 & n.4 (4th Cir.), vacated and withdrawn when grand jury indicted target and he became fugitive, 697 F.2d 112 (4th Cir.1982) (in banc), and counsel’s own ability to prepare for trial, since the subpoena will divert counsel’s attention and energy at a time when he should be focusing solely on preparing for trial. See In re Grand Jury Matters, 751 F.2d 13, 18-19 (1st Cir.1984). The failure of the in banc majority opinion to discuss these considerations adequately makes clear how slight a weight it accords to Sixth Amendment rights in the ostensible weighing process.
3. Finally, the situation has changed so much since the district court (and then the panel) ruled, that the case should be remanded to the district court for reconsideration. In view of the pending indictments on related offenses against Colombo, can we say with assurance that the district judge would still refuse to quash the subpoena? I do not think that we can; moreover, as Judge Cardamone points out, the issue is properly for the district judge. In this sense, I believe that the issue originally presented on appeal has become moot and that, in any event, the case should be remanded for a ruling by the district judge.