![handle is hein.crs/govzgn0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
a Congressional ______
**Research Service
Do Courts Have Inherent Authority to Release
Secret Grand Jury Materials?
Updated April 9, 2019
UPDATE 4/9/2019: On April 5, 2019, the three-judge panel in McKeever ruled that federal
courts lack inherent authority to authorize the disclosure of grand jury matters in
circumstances not covered by an explicit exception set out in Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of
Criminal Procedure. It thus appears that, for the time being, the panel's decision has closed off
one potential avenue for Congress to obtain grand jury material in federal court in the District
of Columbia (though the decision could always be reheard en banc or overturned by the Supreme
Court). That said, as the McKeever decision notes, Congress previously was successful in
obtaining grand jury materials pursuant to the Rule 6(e) exception for disclosure preliminarily
to or in connection with a judicial proceeding on the theory that an authorized impeachment
inquiry is preliminary to such a proceeding. That avenue appears to remain available to
Congress after McKeever. Furthermore, Congress has in the past taken the position that it
possesses independent constitutional authority to obtain grand jury materials regardless of the
applicability of any Rule 6(e) exceptions-i.e., that the rule of grand jury secrecy simply does not
apply to Congress when it is acting within the sphere of legitimate legislative activity. But
while two courts have appeared to agree with that position, the Department ofJustice (and some
other courts) have contested it.
The original post from October 5, 2018 is below.
The U.S. Constitution requires that any prosecution of a serious federal crime be initiated by a
presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury. The [g]rand [j]ury contemplated by the Constitution is a
temporary, citizen-comprised body that obtains evidence and considers whether it is sufficient to justify
criminal charges in a particular case. Though a grand jury works with federal prosecutors and functions
under judicial auspices, it is considered an independent constitutional fixture in its own right that
belongs to no branch of the institutional Government, serving as a kind of buffer . .. between the
Government and the people. One long-established principle that has been deemed essential to the grand
jury's functioning and independence is that matters occurring before it are to be kept secret. Secrecy
prevents those under scrutiny from fleeing or importuning the grand jurors, encourages full disclosure by
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