Court Opinion

ID: 9481111
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:08:06.413033+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:06.133658
License: Public Domain

Statement of RUTH BADER GINSBURG, Circuit Judge,
dissenting from the denial of the suggestion for rehearing en banc with respect to Count 9 Authorization Instructions:
A majority of the panel held that a government official may not be convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 2071 for altering, concealing, or shredding official documents if he believed, however unreasonably, that his actions were legal. Section 2071, the panel held, requires the prosecution to show that the official had no belief, not even a patently unreasonable belief, in his actions’ legality. The panel’s conclusion does not follow obviously from the statutory terms “willfully and unlawfully.” Nor did the panel justify its interpretation on the basis of prior constructions of § 2071, the statute’s legislative history, or — unlike the dissent— compelling policy reasons. Rather, the panel’s interpretation of § 2071 relies on the Independent Counsel’s purportedly clear concession that the statute requires proof of “subjective knowledge” that the action was illegal. I see no such concession, either in the Independent Counsel’s brief or at oral argument.
North’s opening brief contended that the statute requires that “[a] defendant’s intent must be judged by a subjective standard,” citing Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 276, 72 S.Ct. 240, 256, 96 L.Ed. 288 (1952), and United States v. Rhone, 864 F.2d 832 (D.C.Cir.1989). Brief of Appellant at 37. North concluded that the trial judge had committed reversible error by instructing the jury on Count 9 that only a reasonable belief in his actions’ proper authorization could negate North’s criminal intent under § 2071. Id. The Independent Counsel’s brief disputes this conclusion directly, arguing that “an unreasonable belief that an order to lie to Congress or alter official records made such conduct legal no more negates guilt than would an unreasonable belief that the conduct itself had not been prohibited.” Brief for Appellee at 39. The Independent Counsel notes that North cited no case interpreting § 2071 that sustains the defense position, and then directly disputes the relevance of Morissette and Rhone — North’s *960support for his claim that § 2071 requires proof of subjective knowledge. Id. at n. 73. I see no basis for deriving from this concise, precisely-trained discussion any waiver of the prosecution’s right to dispute North’s contention (swiftly accepted by the panel) that § 2071 requires proof of subjective knowledge.
Nor would I extract a dispositive concession from the colloquy at oral argument on which the per curiam opinion on rehearing ultimately relies. As the transcript of oral argument indicates, the topic of discussion immediately before and directly after the Independent Counsel’s purported concession was Count 6, not Count 9. The question to which Mr. Lynch responded “Yes”— the moment at which he is said to have made his “express” concession — was a question about Count 6, not Count 9. The sole reference to the Independent Counsel’s position on “subjective knowledge” and Count 9, however, was parenthetical, placed between a statement about Count 6 and the question about Count 6.* At no point during Mr. Lynch’s presentation did he or the panel pause to focus singularly on the relation of North’s authorization evidence to Count 9. Given the number and complexity of issues Mr. Lynch had to discuss, and 'the barrage of questions he faced from the bench, the court should be loath to find a concession, either express or implied.
I agree with Chief Judge Wald that the panel’s conclusion on this issue is troubling and warrants further consideration. The panel majority has declared its ruling on the merits good for this day and case alone, and so deems the matter not worthy of en banc consideration. See per curiam opinion on rehearing at 950. I think it vital, however, to dispel the impression that, in responding to questions before the D.C. Circuit, diligent counsel are best advised to just say “No.”

 QUESTION: I want to come back to the grand juror question and the tension or supposed tension between the Supreme Court and the Second Circuit on that. I will start with a question that I pushed Appellant’s counsel on, which is the instructions to the jury on specific intent on Count 6.
MR. LYNCH: Yes.
QUESTION: I am inclined to think you are correct, that that does not require knowledge of unlawfulness, as Count 9 does and you concede. And I think you say in your brief, and I think you are correct, that it requires at least knowledge of wrongfulness. Is that correct?
MR. LYNCH: Yes.