Packwood v. Senate Select Comm. on Ethics, 510 U.S. 1319, 3 (1994)

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Cite as: 510 U. S. 1319 (1994)

Opinion in Chambers

would grant certiorari. Cf. United States v. Nixon, 418 U. S. 683, 702 (1974) ("Enforcement of a pretrial subpoena duces tecum must necessarily be committed to the sound discretion of the trial court since the necessity for the subpoena most often turns upon a determination of factual issues"). Moreover, whatever merit applicant's argument may have had initially, it has been seriously undermined by the evidence, presented to the District Court, that his diary transcripts and tapes have been altered. Regardless of the scope of respondent's initial inquiry, surely respondent has the authority to investigate attempts to obstruct that inquiry, and the evidence of tampering very likely renders all of the requested diary entries relevant to that investigation.

Applicant next asserts that the subpoena violates his Fourth Amendment right to privacy. The District Court, relying on our decisions in O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U. S. 709 (1987), and Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U. S. 425 (1977), balanced applicant's privacy interests against the importance of the governmental interests. The court concluded that the latter outweighed the former. Applicant does not quarrel with the legal standard applied by the District Court, only with its conclusion. Because this claim thus also involves only a factbound determination, I do not think certiorari would be granted to review it.

Finally, applicant argues that the subpoena violates his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. He relies primarily on Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616 (1886), and argues that the Courts of Appeals are in conflict as to whether Boyd remains controlling with regard to the production of private papers. We recently denied a petition for certiorari raising this precise issue. See Doe v. United States, ante, p. 1091. Our recent denial demonstrates quite clearly the unlikelihood that four Justices would vote to grant review on this issue. See South Park Independent School Dist. v. United States, 453 U. S. 1301, 1304 (1981) (Powell, J., in chambers) (denying stay application because it

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