The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide in June if it will review an appeals court ruling that let federal prosecutors subpoena documents that foreign companies had sent to their law firms in the United States. The documents, demanded by plaintiffs in civil suits, were first delivered to four law firms under a civil court’s protective order. But prosecutors grabbed them anyway.
While the trial judge balked at the move, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco allowed the U.S. Department of Justice to seize the records. The fallout was swift: One law firm appealed. And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Bar Association—not usually on the same side of cases—are among seven groups that filed amicus briefs asking the high court to review. They’re paying close attention because, they say, if U.S. prosecutors can use this tactic, foreign prosecutors may try it on U.S. companies.
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