privileges

The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) has issued a new legal opinion that may offer the administration new tools to withhold from disclosure the President’s communications with certain private parties.  In an opinion published this week, OLC concluded that the presidential communications privilege shields from disclosure certain…

Continue Reading OLC Opinion Would Extend Executive Privilege to Include Private Advisers, Inviting Future Disputes with Congress and New Considerations for Private Parties

Understandably, much of the commentary following the release of the Supreme Court’s blockbuster decision in Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP has focused on the impact of the Court’s ruling on the long-running quest for the President’s tax returns and other financial records.  Buried in the Court’s opinion, however, is an…
Continue Reading The Supreme Court’s Mazars Decision Contains a Significant Suggestion That Congress May Be Bound by the Attorney-Client Privilege in Congressional Investigations

In late October, the House of Representatives quietly approved a bill that would dramatically strengthen Congress’s procedures for enforcing congressional subpoenas.  In adopting the bill, the bipartisan leadership of the House Judiciary Committee highlighted the challenges that Congress faces in obtaining materials from executive branch agencies.  Significant portions of the…
Continue Reading House of Representatives Seeks to Strengthen Subpoena Enforcement Dramatically