Privileged Conversations
In a lawsuit filed in Maricopa County, an attorney claims staff members of the Arizona Department of Corrections violate the rights of her clients in prison by listening to privileged conversations.
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privilege
Fox Wields 1st Amendment in $2.7B Election-Fraud Defamation Fight
Faced with a $2.7 billion defamation suit, Fox News said in a Tuesday motion to dismiss that the First Amendment protects post-election reporting in which the electronic voting company Smartmatic was falsely accused of helping Democrats to steal the U.S. presidency.
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Indicted Giuliani Associates Cite Privilege to Evade Trial
In the same week it was reported that prosecutors are in talks to obtain Rudy Giuliani’s electronic communications, three Giuliani associates sought to have their federal indictments dismissed on the basis that the evidence against them comes from emails that have attorney-client privilege.
Read moreSpousal Privilege
The New Mexico Supreme Court retracted a ruling that abolished a spousal communications privilege in finding that the prohibition against witnesses testifying in court about what their husband or wife told them in private conversations must be reinstated. The rule should be the “subject of comprehensive and robust public discussion,” the court found.
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Justices Pick Apart Draft Status in Public-Access Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court dove in Monday to debate over when the public has the right to access secret government documents that could illuminate the rationale behind endangered species protections.
Read moreDeath Threats
The Eighth Circuit upheld the conviction of a man who threatened a federal judge in Minnesota who had ruled against him in a life insurance dispute. The man repeatedly described himself as a “walking bomb,” and told two attorney he’d planned to kill the judge in “50 different ways.” That statement was not subject to attorney-client privilege.
Read moreUnmask Officials in Global Entry Case, Judge Tells Homeland Security
A federal judge put a spotlight on the Department of Homeland Security with a pair of Wednesday rulings, the first of which suggests a possible coverup on why the agency shut New Yorkers out of Global Entry.
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Privilege Waived, Ex-Flynn Lawyers Must Answer to Feds
As former national security adviser Michael Flynn tries to withdraw his guilty plea, a federal judge agreed Friday to let prosecutors interview the lawyers Flynn says provided him ineffective assistance.
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NY Judge Denies NRA Bid to Review Subpoenaed Records
A Manhattan judge ruled Monday that the National Rifle Association cannot intercept documents related to an investigation by the New York state attorney general’s office into its nonprofit status.
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Privilege Battle Over Parnas Files Kicked to DC
A federal judge punted to Washington on Thursday a privilege dispute over several iPhones turned over to the House Intelligence Committee by one of the indicted associates of personal Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Read moreElder Abuse
A trial court improperly denied a defendant’s motion to exclude evidence of statements she made to a counselor admitting that she had smothered her grandmother with a pillow, an Oregon appeals court ruled, finding that the state’s elder abuse reporting statutes “only abrogate privileged communications to the extent that a report be submitted.”
Read moreTennessee Supreme Court Sets Limit on Fair-Report Privilege
What began with a youth football league’s fundraiser gone bad led to the Tennessee Supreme Court deciding on Thursday the fair report privilege – the privilege protecting journalists reporting on what is said during official government proceedings from defamation claims – doesn’t extend to journalists reporting on what officials tell them in one-on-one interviews.
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Bolton Lawyer Reinforces Impeachment-Probe Pushback
The lawyer for John Bolton denied Tuesday that a federal judge’s stinging rebuke of immunity for top White House aides has any bearing on his client’s refusal to comply with impeachment investigators.
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McGahn Ordered to Testify in House Impeachment Probe
In a ruling that could unlock further testimony from senior Trump administration officials, a federal judge on Monday ordered former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
Read moreNRA Pushes Broad Privilege Claims Against State Subpoena
Fighting for a seat at the table in a state investigation of the gun group’s practices, lawyers for the National Rifle Association argued in court Thursday over the right to review documents that a subpoena could unearth.
Read moreDutch Court Frees Reporter Jailed for Refusing to Reveal Source
A Dutch journalist was released from jail Friday after being held in contempt of court for refusing to answer questions about a source.
Read moreDenying Election Crimes, Giuliani Friends Raise Specter of Exec Privilege
The arraignment of Rudy Giuliani’s associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman had been shaping up to be a routine plea of not guilty — until a defense attorney remarked Wednesday that the case could invoke evidence falling under the realms of executive privilege.
Read moreTennessee Supreme Court Asked to Clarify Fair-Report Privilege
A hard-boiled detective story it wasn’t. The facts underlying a case argued Thursday before the Tennessee Supreme Court started out more as a bake-until-golden-brown tale.
Read moreIntelligence Chief Defends Shrouding Whistleblower Complaint
Under fire about his role in keeping secret a whistleblower complaint that has fueled an impeachment probe against President Donald Trump, the acting director of U.S. intelligence told House lawmakers Wednesday that executive privilege concerns pushed him to seek the administration’s guidance.
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