SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday shot down a request from federal prosecutors in Oregon seeking access to the personal emails of former Governor John Kitzhaber, who is under investigation over whether he used his position to benefit associates.
A Ninth Circuit panel found that Kitzhaber had an expectation of privacy in much of his private emails, which were mistakenly stored on servers belonging to the state. The appellate court, however, found that expectation of privacy did not extend to instances where Kitzhaber used his personal email address to conduct state business.
