Local Rule 83.12: Production and Disclosure of Documents and Testimony of Judicial Personnel in Legal Proceedings

83.12 Production and Disclosure of Documents and Testimony of Judicial Personnel in Legal Proceedings

(a) The purpose of the rule is to implement the policy of the Judicial Conference of the United States with regard 1. to the production or disclosure of official information or records by the federal judiciary, and 2. the testimony of present or former judicial personnel relating to any official information acquired by any such individual as part of the individual's performance of official duties, or by virtue of that individual's official status, in federal, state, or other legal proceedings.

Implementation of this Rule is subject to the regulations that the Judicial Conference of the United States has established and which are incorporated herein. Parties can obtain a copy of such regulations from the Clerk's office.

(b) Requests that this Rule covers include an order, subpoena, or other demand of a court or administrative or other authority, of competent jurisdiction, under color of law, or any other request by whatever method, for the production, disclosure, or release of information or records by the federal judiciary, or for the appearance and testimony of federal judicial personnel as witnesses as to matters arising out of the performance of their official duties, in legal proceedings. This includes requests for voluntary production or testimony in the absence of any legal process.

(c) This Rule does not apply to requests that members of the public make, when properly made through the procedures that the Court has established for records or documents, such as court files or dockets, routinely made available to members of the public for inspection or copying.

(d) In any request for testimony or production of records, the party shall set forth a written statement explaining the nature of the testimony or records the party seeks, the relevance of that testimony or those records to the legal proceedings, and the reasons why that testimony or those records, or the information contained therein, are not readily available from other sources or by other means. This explanation shall contain sufficient information for the determining officer to decide whether or not federal judicial personnel should be allowed to testify or the records should be produced. Where the request does not contain an explanation sufficient for this purpose, the determining officer may deny the request or may ask the requester to provide additional information. The request for testimony or production of records shall be provided to the federal judicial personnel from whom testimony or production of records is sought at least twenty-one (21) days in advance of the date on which the testimony or production of records is required. Failure to meet this requirement shall provide a sufficient basis for denial of the request.

(e) In the case of a request directed to a district judge or a magistrate judge, or directed to a current or former member of such a judge's personal staff, the determining officer shall be the district judge or the magistrate judge.

(f) Procedures to be followed.

1. In the case of a request directed to an employee or former employee of the Clerk's office, the determining officer shall be the Clerk. The Clerk shall consult with the Chief Judge for determination of the proper response to a request.

2. In the case of a request directed to an employee or former employee of the Probation Office, the determining officer will be the Chief Probation Officer or his or her designee. The determining officer shall consult with the Chief Judge or his or her designee regarding the proper response to a request. The Chief Probation Officer's designee(s) will be the officer to whom the request is directed and the officer's supervisor or manager. The Chief Judge's designee will be the judge who sentenced the offender who made the request or whose records are the subject of the request. Requests for disclosure, other than subpoenas, not otherwise covered by memorandum of understanding, statute, rule of procedure, regulation, case law, or court-approved local policy, will be presented to the sentencing judge, or in that judge's absence, the Chief Judge, for approval. All subpoenas will be presented to the Court.