In re Sealed Case
Lead Opinion
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge
Concurring opinion filed by Circuit Judge KAVANAUGH.
FBI agents executed search warrants [redacted] as part of a grand jury investigation. Arguing to the district court that some of the documents seized were beyond the scope of the warrants and others were protected by the attorney-client privilege, appellant moved for their return pursuant to
I
[redacted] is the subject of an ongoing grand jury investigation [redacted] On March 2, 2012, FBI agents executed search warrants at [redacted] in Washington, D.C.
The agents seized more than sixty boxes of physical property, as well as computers, hard drives, cell phones, and other devices that contained electronic records. The boxes and the electronic devices contained more than twenty-three million pages of documents. Within days of the search, the government had copied and returned to [redacted] the contents of most of the electronic devices. (It remains unclear whether several cell phones seized from [redacted] have yet been returned. Tr. 54-55.) The government also made copies or originals of the documents available. Each party proposed protocols to identify documents the government could review without exceeding the scope of the search warrants or breaching the attorney-client privilege. When they were unable to
On May 3, 2012, the district court denied [redacted] motions, and on May 11, [redacted] sought review from this court, [redacted]. On January 14, 2013, [redacted] and the government notified us that they had reached agreement on how to identify privileged material. Because we may act only to resolve “actual, ongoing controversies,” Honig v. Doe,
II
Before we can take up the merits of claim, [redacted] we must determine whether we have jurisdiction to hear the appeal of the denial of [redacted]
In DiBella v. United States, the Supreme Court announced a test to determine whether a
The Supreme Court held that a court of appeals could entertain the denial of a motion for the return of seized property “[o]nly if the motion is solely for return of property and is in no way tied to a criminal prosecution in esse
[redacted]
The question is more fundamental than whether the movant seeks only to suppress evidence. The question is whether a
On both of these counts, [redacted] motions are not “solely for return of property.” [redacted] has made no argument that [redacted] has some need for the seized property. We think it significant that the government has already made almost all of [redacted] property available to [redacted], and it has expressed a willingness to return at least copies of any documents it retains. It is also telling that the injury [redacted] asserts is not the deprivation of property but the unlawful revelation of [redacted] private information. [redacted] preoccupation with disclosure rather than return underscores that [redacted] invocation of
To be sure, [redacted] motions do not, by their terms, seek suppression of evidence. Granting them, however, would have a profound effect on the presentation of evidence at a future hearing or trial. For example, [redacted] motions include a request that the district court require the government to waive the plain view doctrine with respect to the electronic documents.
Because [redacted] motions fail the first prong of the DiBella test, we need not consider whether they are also “tied to a criminal prosecution in esse against” [redacted]. [redacted]
Ill
Congress and the courts have fashioned exceptions to the finality rule, see DiBella,
The Perlman doctrine permits appeals from some decisions that are not final but that allow the disclosure of property or evidence over which the appellant asserts a right or privilege. The doctrine originates in the Supreme Court’s decision in Perlman v. United States,
In a brief paragraph, the Supreme Court rejected the government’s argument, calling it “somewhat strange,” and warning that, if adopted, it would render “Perlman ... powerless to avert the mischief of the order” and would require him to “accept its incidence and seek a remedy at some other time and in some other way.” Id. at 12-13,
It is not clear to us from the filings whether [redacted] still thinks the Perl-man doctrine provides jurisdiction for [redacted] appeal now that the dispute over the attorney-client privilege is moot. Apart from Perlman itself, all of the cases [redacted] cites concern privileges, rather than Fourth Amendment rights. In any event, we rest our disposition not on the nature of the rights or privileges [redacted] asserts, but on the conclusion that the Perlman doctrine cannot be stretched to cover appeals from denials of
We disagree. These two isolated, decades-old decisions involved unique circumstances. Both we and the Eighth Circuit recognized the novelty of the orders and cautiously relied on “the rationale of Perl-man.” In re Grand Jury Investigation of Ocean Transp.,
We hold that DiBella is the exclusive test for determining whether we have jurisdiction over appeals from orders denying
The Supreme Court recently cautioned that “the class of collaterally appealable orders must remain ‘narrow and selective in its membership.’ This admonition has acquired special force in recent years with the enactment of legislation designating rulemaking, ‘not expansion by court decision,’ as the preferred means for determining whether and when prejudgment orders should be immediately appealable.” Mohawk Indus., Inc. v. Carpenter,
Because we hold that the Perlman doctrine does not apply to appeals from orders denying
IV
For the forgoing reasons, the appeal is dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction.
So ordered.
Notes
. NOTE: Portions of this opinion contain Sealed Material, which has been redacted.
. Prior to 1989, only an unlawful search or seizure could trigger the rule, which provided for automatic suppression of any property returned. See In re Warrant Dated Dec. 14, 1990,
.Because the grand jury has not yet returned an indictment against, [redacted] no criminal number exists for [redacted] case. Instead, [redacted] [redacted] motions were assigned miscellaneous numbers.
. Today, a statute permits the United States to appeal orders granting
. In esse is defined as "[i]n actual existence” or "in being.” Black’s Law Dictionary 846 (9th ed. 2009).
.
. The plain view doctrine permits the seizure of evidence outside the scope of the warrant discovered during the course of a lawful search, provided its criminal nature is immediately apparent. See Horton v. California,
. Every other circuit has invoked a similar formulation. See In re Grand Jury,
. Although it sought return of property, the motion was not a
Concurrence Opinion
concurring:
I join the Court’s fine opinion but note that our decision does not foreclose interlocutory appellate jurisdiction under Perl-man when (i) the underlying action is not a