Subpart B of Part 16 of Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, sometimes referred to as the Department’s Touhy regulations, named after United States ex rel. Touhy v. Ragen, 340 U.S. 462 (1951), provide that no present or former employee of the Department of Justice may testify or produce Departmental records in response to subpoenas or demands of courts or other authorities issued in any state or federal proceeding without obtaining prior approval by an appropriate Department official. Information regulated by 28 C.F.R. §§ 16.21 et seq., falls into the following categories:

1. A. Any material contained in the files of the Department;
2. B. Any information relating to material contained in the files of the Department; or
3. C. Any information acquired by an employee of the Department as a part of the performance of that employee's official duties or because of the employee's official status.

The 1980 amendments to the regulations both decentralize the authorization power and establish different procedures to be followed in cases in which the United States is and those cases in which the United States is not a party. Additionally, alternate procedural steps are sometimes involved where the "originating component" is or is not a litigating division of the Department. A denial policy generally applicable to both situations exists.

As will be noted in Section 1-6.400, the regulations are not intended to create new privileges or to supersede existing discovery rules. They simply are intended to provide a procedure whereby the Department will have the opportunity to protect certain types of information from unwarranted and unconsidered disclosure. Specific questions should be referred to the appropriate litigating division of the Department.

[updated April 2018]