Brief filed: 04/21/2011
Documents
White & Case LLP v. United States
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 10-1147
Prior Decision
Decision below, In re Grand Jury Suboenas, 627 F.3d 1143 (9th Cir. 2010).
Argument(s)
Grand jury investigations of business entities and civil actions against the grand jury target often proceed concurrently. The question in the case is whether a grand jury subpoena trumps a protective order issued by a judge in the civil case. There is a three-way split among federal circuit courts of appeal regarding the dilemma, but only the Ninth Circuit has adopted a per se rule which requires that civil protective orders give way to a grand jury subpoena with no judicial balancing of the interests involved. The Court should grant certiorari to clarify the circumstances in which judicial balancing is appropriate.
Author(s)
Ross H. Garber, Charles L. Howard and Michelle L. Querijero, Shipman & Goodman LLP, Hartford, CT.