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Attorney-client privilege is recognized law but not absolute

WASHINGTON _ The attorney-client privilege is not written into the U.S. Constitution or federal law, but it is "one of the oldest recognized privileges for confidential communications," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote 20 years ago.

"The privilege is intended to encourage full and frank communication between attorneys and their clients and thereby promote broader public interests in the observance of law and the administration of justice," Rehnquist wrote.

But it is not an absolute or unlimited protection for privacy, he added. It should be "interpreted in the light of reason and experience."

Rehnquist spoke for the Supreme Court in 1998 when it upheld a privilege claim by a Washington lawyer who had taken notes when a deeply troubled White House deputy counsel, Vincent Foster, came to see him. Less than two weeks later, Foster committed suicide and independent counsel Kenneth Starr went to court years later demanding to see the notes. In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court refused, saying that the shield of confidentiality did not die with the client.

But at other times, the justices sided with the independent counsel and decided that President Bill Clinton's White House lawyers could not invoke the attorney-client privilege to shield their conversations or notes.

The issue arose again this week as the FBI raided the New York offices of President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Investigators reportedly were looking for information about payments made by Cohen to women alleged to have had affairs with Trump, including adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.

"Attorney-client privilege is dead!" Trump said Tuesday on Twitter.

_Tribune Washington Bureau