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Mordechai Korf, et al. v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 20-14223-AA · judgment August 30, 2021

Certiorari denied · October 3, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

The court of appeals allowed a Department of Justice “filter team” consisting of government attorneys not conducting the investigation to review assertedly privileged materials of petitioners’ lawyers, seized during a search, before any court ruled on petitioners’ assertions of attorney-client privilege and work-product protection—and without requiring any showing that an exception to privilege may apply. The question presented is: Whether filter-team procedures like the ones in this case are invalid because they undermine the attorney-client privilege and work-product protection.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Michael R. Dreeben
O’Melveny & Myers LLP

For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Oct 03 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 10 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2022.
  3. Aug 08 2022
    Reply of petitioners Mordechai Korf, et al. filed. (Distributed)
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  4. Jul 21 2022
    Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
    Main DocumentCertificate of Word Count
  5. Jun 15 2022
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including July 21, 2022.
  6. Jun 14 2022
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 21, 2022 to July 21, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  7. May 20 2022
    Brief amici curiae of Retired Federal Judges filed.
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  8. May 20 2022
    Brief amici curiae of Professors of Criminal Law and Legal Ethics filed.
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  9. May 16 2022
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including June 21, 2022. See Rule 30.1.
  10. May 13 2022
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 20, 2022 to June 20, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  11. Apr 18 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 20, 2022)
    PetitionAppendixCertificate of Word CountProof of Service