Court Opinion

ID: 9467437
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:48:50.357779+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:20.796076
License: Public Domain

SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
In reaching its decision under Fed.R. Crim.P. 6(e), the majority distinguishes United States v. Stanford, 589 F.2d 285 (7th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 983, 99 S.Ct. 1794, 60 L.Ed.2d 244 (1979). Persuaded, as I am, by the Seventh Circuit’s reading of the “judicial proceeding” language in Rule 6(e), see id. at 292, I dissent from the holding that the trial court lacked authority under Rule 6(e)(3)(C)(i) to order disclosure to Mr. House.
Stanford construed a predecessor version of Rule 6(e). See id. at 289 n.l. Nevertheless, both that version and the one applicable here permit disclosure “when so directed by a court preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding.”
Like Tager, the Stanford defendants were convicted of federal mail fraud. The Illinois Department of Public Aid (IDPA) was a victim in the welfare fraud scheme. During the grand jury investigation, the district court issued orders under Rule 6(e) that permitted disclosure of grand jury materials, including transcripts, to FBI agents, IDPA employees, and Illinois Department of Law Enforcement personnel. These disclosures were necessary to provide federal prosecutors with expert assistance in aid of the grand jury investigation.
On appeal, Stanford and his codefendants claimed, inter alia, that because a grand jury investigation was not a Rule 6(e) “judicial proceeding,” the disclosure orders were improper. The Seventh Circuit rejected the argument:
“Rule 6(e) permits disclosure orders not only ‘in connection with’ but also ‘preliminarily to’ a judicial proceeding. Although a grand jury proceeding may not itself be ‘determinable by a court,’ Special February 1971 Grand Jury v. Conlisk, 490 F.2d 894, 897 (7th Cir. 1973), quoting Doe v. Rosenberry, 255 F.2d 118, 120 (2d Cir. 1958), it is nevertheless preliminary to such proceedings. See United States v. Universal Manufacturing Co., 525 F.2d 808 (8th Cir. 1975); In re Special February 1971 Grand Jury v. Conlisk, supra.”
Stanford, 589 F.2d at 292. In my view, this reasoning applies to the disclosure order here.1
*172I cannot agree with the majority’s implied suggestion that the Seventh Circuit might have decided Stanford in reverse had the disclosures been made to private, nongovernmental investigators. Stanford rests upon the actual “judicial proceeding” language now in subsection (3)(C)(i), not upon the identity of those to whom disclosure is made. Even the majority’s own view of that subsection does not suggest such a government-nongovernment distinction.
Neither can I agree that the structure of Rule 6(e) implies a lack of authority for disclosure orders such as here. The majority views the grouping principle of Rule 6(e)(3) to be disclosures in aid of grand jury investigations (subsections (A) and (B)) versus disclosures in judicial proceedings that occur after discharge of the grand jury (subsection (C)). The grouping principle might just as easily be viewed as disclosures that do not require court approval versus disclosures that do. Permitting disclosures to government personnel without court approval, as Congress did in subsection (A), does not of itself imply a prohibition in subsection (C) against court-approved disclosure to nongovernment personnel.
Finally, I find nothing in the legislative history cited by the majority that suggests a per se rule against court-approved disclosure to nongovernment personnel during an ongoing grand jury investigation for the sole purpose of aiding that investigation. I would hold that Rule 6(e)(3)(C)(i) permits such disclosure within the discretion of the court.

. In direct support for its contrary holding, the majority cites language from In re Miami Federal Grand Jury No. 79-8, 478 F.Supp. 490 (S.D.Fla.1979), and In re Grand Jury Proceed*172ings, 445 F.Supp. 349 (D.R.I.), appeal dismissed, 580 F.2d 13 (1st Cir. 1978) (lack of appellate jurisdiction). The Southern District of Florida is quoted as saying that the application of Rule 6(e)(3)(C) “to the very grand jury from which disclosure is sought seems somewhat illogical.” 478 F.Supp. at 493. But the Florida court just as plainly conceded that “[c]onceivably, however, subsection C can be seen as providing the court with a discretionary means of disclosure beyond the confines of subsection A.” Id. In the end, the court found it unnecessary to resolve the issue, for it concluded that the Government failed to show the requisite need for disclosure.
The District of Rhode Island did say subsection (C)(i) was “not designed" to permit disclosures during ongoing grand jury investigations. See 445 F.Supp. at 350. But the thrust of its holding was that the federal prosecutor failed to establish the requisite need for disclosure to the state detective. See id. It was on this discretionary basis only that the First Circuit viewed the holding. See 580 F.2d at 17.
In sum, I cannot find in either case the solid support found by the majority for its reading of Rule 6(e)(3)(C)(i).