Senator Specter introduces a new Senate Bill: a modified version of his earlier bill, S. 186 to regulate federal department and agency demand for materials protected by the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine.
Just as the Senate was winding down for its Fourth of July recess, on June 26, 2008, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) introduced S. 3217 - the Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2008. He explained that this legislation was a "modified version" of S. 186, introduced in 2007.
The final text of S. 3217 is not yet available, but a draft prior to its introduction is available here. In describing the measure in remarks upon the measure's introduction, Senator Specter described three changes:
- The new bill defines "organization" to clarify that "continuing criminal enterprises and terrorist organizations will not benefit from the bill’s protections."
- The bill clarifies some unspecified language that the U.S. Department of Justice had indicated was "ambiguous" in S. 186
- The legislation "makes clear in its findings that its prohibition on informal privilege waiver demands is far from unprecedented," as the measure provides: "Congress recognized that law enforcement can effectively investigate without attorney-client privileged information when it banned Attorney General demands for privileged materials in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. See 18 U.S.C. § 1968(c)(2)."
See 153 CONG. REC. S6294 (daily ed. June 26, 2008).
A so-called "Coalition to Preserve Attorney-Client Privilege" which appears to be a corporate-dominated interest group and styled as a “partner” of the Association of Corporate Counsel, issued a statement in support of the new bill.
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Text of S3217 as Introduced
The text of S3217 at the time it was introduced by Senator Specter is now available here.
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