Chevron Corporation v. Donziger

Background

Steven Donziger asked the court to require the special prosecutors to disclose communications with Judge Kaplan, produce documents about any such communications, and disclose whether their invoices recorded communications with Judge Kaplan or his chambers. The request was made by letter dated August 21, 2020.

Court’s reasoning

The court denied the request for several reasons:

1. Criminal-case discovery rules. The court explained that this was a criminal case, not a civil case, and that criminal discovery is governed by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 and the disclosure requirements identified in Brady v. Maryland and Giglio v. United States. The court said no provision permitted the disclosures Donziger sought, and Donziger cited none.

2. Earlier denial. The court said it had already denied the request at a January 6, 2020 hearing. It found that Donziger identified no fact or law the court had overlooked that would justify reconsidering that decision.

3. Prosecutors’ stated position. The special prosecutors had stated at the January 6 hearing, and repeated in their opposition letter, that they did not seek Judge Kaplan’s input about their prosecution decisions or strategy and that Judge Kaplan did not weigh in on those decisions or strategy.

4. Invoice information. The court found that requesting details from the special prosecutors’ invoices was unwarranted, at least before the case was resolved. It also repeated that it was unaware of any legal rule entitling a defendant to serve discovery demands on the presiding judge.

Disposition

The court denied Donziger’s request for discovery concerning communications between the special prosecutors and Judge Kaplan. The opinion does not resolve the underlying criminal charges.