In re: Grand Jury Investigation [Rowland]
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
399 F.3d 527 (2d Cir. 2005)
A federal grand jury investigating whether Connecticut's governor and other officials accepted improper gifts in exchange for state contracts subpoenaed Anne George (defendant), former chief legal counsel to the Governor's Office, who testified to having numerous conversations with the governor and other officials about accepting gifts and related ethics laws but refused to reveal the content of those conversations, invoking attorney-client privilege; the district court compelled her testimony, reasoning the governmental privilege was weaker than the private privilege and must yield when disclosure serves the public interest, such as in a grand jury investigation, and the Governor's Office and interested parties appealed.
Whether the governmental attorney-client privilege is distinguishable from the private attorney-client privilege in that it must give way when disclosure would serve the public interest.