United States v. Balsys, 524 U.S. 666, 28 (1998)

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 666 (1998)

Opinion of the Court

the framing 14 and refined through immunity doctrine in the intervening years. Since the Judiciary could not recognize fear of foreign prosecution and at the same time preserve the Government's existing rights to seek testimony in exchange for immunity (because domestic courts could not enforce the immunity abroad), it follows that extending protection as Balsys requests would change the balance of private and governmental interests that has seemingly been accepted for as long as there has been Fifth Amendment doctrine. The upshot is that accepting personal testimonial integrity or privacy as a prima facie justification for the development Balsys seeks would threaten a significant change in the scope of traditional domestic protection; to the extent, on the other hand, that the domestic tradition is thought worthy of preservation, an appeal to a general personal testimonial integrity or privacy is not helpful. See Doe v. United States, 487 U. S. 201, 213, n. 11 (1988) (finding no violation of the privilege "[d]espite the impact upon the inviolability of the human personality"); Schmerber v. California, 384 U. S. 757, 762 (1966) (holding that a witness cannot rely on the privilege to decline to provide blood samples); ibid. ("[T]he privilege has never been given the full scope which the values that it helps to protect suggest").

B

Murphy's policy catalog would provide support, at a rather more concrete level, for Balsys's argument that application of the privilege in situations like his would promote the purpose of preventing government overreaching, which on anyone's view lies at the core of the Clause's purposes. This argument begins with the premise that "cooperative internationalism" creates new incentives for the Government to facilitate foreign criminal prosecutions. Because crime, like legitimate trade, is increasingly international, a correspond-14 See n. 13, supra.

693

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