Stuart A. McKeever v. William P. Barr, Attorney General

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) imposes an “obligation of secrecy” on specific, listed persons connected to a grand jury, including government attorneys, grand jurors, and court reporters—but not district courts. The Rule also contains several express “Exceptions” to this secrecy obligation, which allow disclosure of grand jury materials in certain circumstances. Openly disagreeing with the Second, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits, the D.C. Circuit below held that Rule 6(e)’s secrecy obligation categorically binds district courts, and it thus denied that district courts have any “authority outside Rule 6(e) to disclose grand jury matter.” App. 17a. In those other circuits, however, district courts retain inherent authority over grand jury records and may release such records in limited circumstances not expressly covered by Rule 6(e)—including, as relevant here, in historically significant cases when continued secrecy no longer serves a meaningful purpose. The question presented is: Whether district courts have inherent authority to release grand jury materials in extraordinary circumstances, such as when the case is historically significant and the public interest strongly favors disclosure.