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140 S. Ct. 597

McKeever v. Barr

Supreme Court of the United States

Decided January 21, 2020

Supreme Court of the United States · decided 2020-01-21

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently March 2020

Relies on Petition to Inspect and Copy Grand Jury Materials Hastings · Craig v. United States · Carlson v. United States

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2020-01-21

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Statement of Justice BREYER respecting the denial of certiorari.

¶1 In the decision below, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that a district court could not authorize *598 the release of grand jury information except as specifically enumerated in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e). 920 F.3d 842 , 850 (2019). That decision is in conflict with the decisions of several other Circuits, which have indicated that district courts retain inherent authority to release grand jury material in other appropriate cases. See, e.g., Carlson v. United States , 837 F.3d 753 , 766-767 (C.A.7 2016) ; In re Craig , 131 F.3d 99 , 105 (C.A.2 1997) ; In re Hastings , 735 F.2d 1261 , 1271-1272 (C.A.11 1984). It also appears to conflict with the considered views of the Rules Committee. See Advisory Committee Minutes on Crim. Rules 7 (Apr. 22-23 2012), https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/fr_import/criminal-min-04-2012.pdf.

¶2 Whether district courts retain authority to release grand jury material outside those situations specifically enumerated in the Rules, or in situations like this, is an important question. It is one I think the Rules Committee both can and should revisit.

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