Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas v. City of Dallas ( 2017 )


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  •                      IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS
    444444444444
    NO . 15-0073
    444444444444
    KEN PAXTON, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS, PETITIONER,
    v.
    CITY OF DALLAS, RESPONDENT
    4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
    ON PETITION FOR REVIEW FROM THE
    COURTS OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD AND THIRTEENTH DISTRICTS OF TEXAS
    4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
    Argued September 14, 2016
    JUSTICE GUZMAN delivered the opinion of the Court, in which CHIEF JUSTICE HECHT ,
    JUSTICE GREEN , JUSTICE WILLETT , JUSTICE LEHRMANN , JUSTICE DEVINE , and JUSTICE BROWN
    joined.
    JUSTICE BOYD filed a dissenting opinion, in which JUSTICE JOHNSON joined.
    Recognizing that government is founded on the authority of the people and “instituted for
    their benefit,”1 the Texas Public Information Act (PIA) favors an open and transparent government
    to ensure the people “retain control over the instruments they have created.”2 But the PIA
    simultaneously recognizes that public interests are best advanced by shielding some information
    1
    T EX . C ON ST . art. I, § 2.
    2
    T EX . G O V ’T C O DE § 552.001(a).
    from public disclosure.3 The Legislature, in its considered judgment, has excepted from disclosure
    more than sixty categories of information, including information protected by the attorney-client
    privilege.4 The issue in this case is whether the governmental body must disclose its attorney-client-
    privileged communications even though the parties agree the information is categorically excepted
    from public disclosure under the Act. The controversy exists because (1) the governmental body
    missed a ten-business-day statutory deadline to request a Texas Attorney General decision affirming
    a categorical exception to disclosure applies,5 and (2) an untimely request for an attorney general
    decision gives rise to a presumption that the information must be disclosed absent a “compelling
    reason to withhold the information.”6 The crux of our inquiry concerns the meaning of “compelling
    reason.”
    The PIA does not define, delineate, or restrict the reasons that may be “compelling” enough
    to withhold requested information following an untimely request for a decision.                 As a
    statutory-construction issue of first impression, we must therefore determine whether the interests
    protected and advanced by the attorney-client privilege are imperative enough to overcome the
    public’s interest in having governmental bodies promptly request a determination from the attorney
    general’s office when they seek to protect confidential information from public-information requests.
    In other words, we must ascertain whether the PIA mandates public dissemination of otherwise
    3
    See 
    id. §§ 552.101-.156.
    4
    
    Id. 5 See
    id. § 552.301.
    
    6
    See 
    id. § 552.302.
    2
    confidential attorney-client communications solely because a governmental body missed a statutory
    deadline.
    We hold that, absent waiver, the interests protected by the attorney-client privilege are
    sufficiently compelling to rebut the public-disclosure presumption that arises on expiration of the
    PIA’s ten-day deadline. The attorney-client privilege reflects a foundational tenet in the law:
    ensuring the free flow of information between attorney and client ultimately serves the broader
    societal interest of effective administration of justice.7 The Legislature’s choice to exempt
    information protected by the attorney-client privilege embodies the fundamental understanding that,
    in the public sector, maintaining candid attorney-client communication directly and significantly
    serves the public interest by facilitating access to legal advice vital to formulation and
    implementation of governmental policy.                  Full and frank legal discourse also protects the
    government’s interest in litigation, business transactions, and other matters affecting the public.8
    Depriving the privilege of its force thus compromises the public’s interest at both discrete and
    systemic levels.9
    Because failing to meet the PIA’s deadline to assert a statutory exception to disclosure does
    not, in and of itself, constitute waiver of the attorney-client privilege, requested information does not
    automatically lose its confidential status and is not subject to compelled disclosure under the PIA
    7
    See Ford Motor Co. v. Leggat, 904 S.W .2d 643, 647 (Tex. 1995).
    8
    See In re Cty. of Erie, 
    473 F.3d 413
    , 418-19 (2d Cir. 2007).
    9
    See, e.g., In re Grand Jury Investigation, 
    399 F.3d 527
    , 534 (2d Cir. 2005).
    3
    solely on that basis. We therefore affirm the lower-court judgments holding the attorney-client
    confidences at issue need not be disclosed to the public-information requestors.
    I. The Texas Public Information Act’s Requirements
    The PIA embodies the State’s policy that “each person is entitled, unless otherwise expressly
    provided by law, at all times to complete information about the affairs of government and the official
    acts of public officials and employees.”10
    Under the PIA, the public has a right of access to “public information,”11 a broadly defined
    term.12 A governmental body must “promptly” produce public information after receiving a request
    for disclosure, meaning “as soon as possible under the circumstances, that is, within a reasonable
    time, without delay.”13 The prompt production of public information furthers the “fundamental
    philosophy” that “government is the servant and not the master of the people.”14
    The right to access is not absolute, however; the Legislature incorporated into the PIA more
    than sixty exceptions to the public-disclosure requirement.15 Statutory exceptions range from very
    broad to more specific categories of information, including “information considered to be
    10
    T EX . G OV ’T C O D E § 552.001(a).
    11
    
    Id. § 552.021.
    12
    
    Id. § 552.002(a)
    (“Public information” means “information that is written, produced, collected, assembled,
    or maintained under a law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business” by a governmental
    body, by its employees or officers in their official capacity if the information pertains to official business of the
    governmental body, or “for a governmental body” if it owns, has a right of access to, or spends or contributes public
    money for the purpose of writing, producing, collecting, assembling, or maintaining the information).
    13
    
    Id. § 552.221(a).
    14
    
    Id. § 552.001(a).
    15
    
    Id. §§ 552.101-.156.
    4
    confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision,”16 attorney-client
    information,17 certain rare books and original manuscripts,18 various categories of records containing
    personal information of public employees or private citizens,19 and sensitive crime-scene images.20
    “[The PIA’s] exceptions embrace the understanding that the public’s right to know is tempered by
    the individual and other interests at stake in disclosing that information.”21
    Consistent with the PIA’s fundamental precept that “[t]he people, in delegating authority, do
    not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not
    good for them to know,”22 a governmental body cannot unilaterally determine that requested
    information is exempt from disclosure. Rather, a governmental body must request a decision from
    the Texas Attorney General confirming the claimed exception applies to the requested information,
    unless the Attorney General has previously made a determination that the information falls within
    a claimed exception.23
    In harmony with the policy underlying the PIA’s prompt-production requirement, the
    governmental body asserting an exception to disclosure must request an attorney general decision
    16
    
    Id. § 552.101.
    17
    
    Id. § 552.107.
    18
    
    Id. § 552.120.
    19
    E.g., 
    id. §§ 552.102,
    .114, .115, .117, .1176, .1235, .124.
    20
    
    Id. § 552.1085.
    21
    Tex. Dep’t of Pub. Safety v. Cox Tex. Newspapers, L.P., 343 S.W .3d 112, 114 (Tex. 2011).
    22
    T EX . G OV ’T C O D E § 552.001(a).
    23
    
    Id. § 552.301(a).
    5
    “within a reasonable time but not later than the 10th business day after the date of receiving the
    written request.”24 If a request for decision is untimely, “the information requested in writing is
    presumed to be subject to required public disclosure and must be released unless there is a
    compelling reason to withhold the information.”25
    To secure compliance with the statute, the PIA provides civil-enforcement mechanisms when
    a governmental body “refuses to request an attorney general’s decision” or “refuses to supply public
    information or information that the attorney general has determined is public information that is not
    excepted from disclosure.”26 In such cases, either the requestor or the Attorney General can institute
    mandamus proceedings to compel access to the information.27 The PIA further authorizes certain
    local or state officials to seek declaratory or injunctive relief based on a complaint by “a person who
    claims to be the victim of a [PIA] violation,” but only after the governmental body is afforded notice
    and fails to timely cure the alleged violation.28 Subject to limited exceptions, the trial court shall
    award costs of litigation and reasonable attorney fees to a plaintiff who substantially prevails in a
    civil-enforcement suit against the governmental body.29
    24
    
    Id. § 552.301(b).
    25
    
    Id. § 552.302
    (emphasis added).
    26
    
    Id. § 552.321(a).
    27
    
    Id. 28 Id.
    § 552.3215.
    29
    
    Id. § 552.323(a).
    6
    The PIA also provides criminal penalties for (1) destruction, removal, or alteration of public
    information, (2) distribution or misuse of “information considered confidential under the [PIA’s]
    terms,” and (3) criminally negligent failure to provide access to or copies of public information.30
    In comparison, “[t]he only suit a governmental body may file seeking to withhold information
    from a requestor is a suit . . . seek[ing] declaratory relief from compliance with [an attorney general]
    decision.”31 Attorney fees and costs may be awarded to a party who substantially prevails in a suit
    instituted by a governmental body.32
    II. The Dispute
    In this consolidated appeal, the City of Dallas seeks relief from two attorney general
    decisions concluding the City must disclose confidential attorney-client communications pursuant
    to public-information requests the City received regarding the McCommas Bluff Landfill (the
    Landfill case) and a convention-center hotel (the Hotel case). The parties agree the requested
    information constitutes “public information” under the PIA, but because the information is
    undisputedly subject to the attorney-client privilege, the City contends the information is excepted
    from disclosure under PIA sections 552.101 (the confidential-by-law exception) and 552.107 (the
    attorney-client exception).
    Section 552.107 applies to “information that the attorney general or an attorney of a political
    subdivision is prohibited from disclosing because of a duty to the client under the Texas Rules of
    30
    
    Id. §§ 552.351-.353.
    31
    
    Id. § 552.324(a).
    32
    
    Id. § 552.323(b).
    7
    Evidence or the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.”33 Section 552.101 applies to
    “information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial
    decision.”34 According to the City, section 552.101 encompasses the attorney-client privilege
    because the privilege derives from the common law and is also memorialized in judicially
    promulgated rules.
    The parties agree the PIA excepts attorney-client communications from public disclosure,
    although they disagree about whether protection is afforded under the confidential-by-law exception
    or the attorney-client exception. The dispute is not about whether the PIA excepts the requested
    information from public disclosure—the parties agree it does. Nor does the City contend that it may
    unilaterally make that determination. Rather, the dispute arises because the City failed to timely
    request an attorney general decision affirming that the information falls within one of the asserted
    exceptions, as required by section 552.301 of the PIA.
    33
    
    Id. § 552.107.
    The evidence and professional-conduct rules “expressly deem certain attorney-client
    communications to be ‘confidential.’” In re City of Georgetown, 53 S.W .3d 328, 333 (Tex. 2001) (orig. proceeding).
    Texas Rule of Evidence 503(a)(5) defines a communication as “confidential” if it is “not intended to be disclosed to third
    persons other than those to whom disclosure is made to further the rendition of professional legal services to the client;
    or reasonably necessary to transmit the communication.” Under Rule 503(b), a client “has a privilege to refuse to
    disclose and to prevent any other person from disclosing confidential communications made to facilitate the rendition
    of professional legal services to the client,” subject to limited exceptions. Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional
    Conduct 1.05(b) imposes a duty of confidentiality and prohibits a lawyer from knowingly revealing confidential
    information. Rule 1.05(a) defines “[c]onfidential information” to include “privileged information” that is protected by
    Texas Rule of Evidence 503 and “unprivileged client information.” The Attorney General has ruled that information
    considered confidential solely under Rule 1.05— including “unprivileged client information”— is not considered
    confidential under the PIA because Rule 1.05 “permit[s] disclosure of client information ‘[w]hen the lawyer has reason
    to believe it is necessary to do so in order to comply with . . . other law.’” Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. ORD-676 at 2 (2002)
    (quoting T EX . D ISCIPLIN ARY R. P RO F ’L C O N D U CT 1.05(c)(4)). The Attorney General has thus concluded that “a
    governmental body’s information that is otherwise made confidential solely under rule 1.05 is subject to the rule’s ‘other
    law’ exception to confidentiality when it is requested under the [PIA].” 
    Id. This case
    does not involve unprivileged
    information protected from disclosure under Rule 1.05.
    34
    T EX . G OV ’T C O D E § 552.101.
    8
    The City requested an attorney general decision twenty-six business days after receiving the
    written request in the Landfill case and forty-nine business days after receiving the request in the
    Hotel case. The City’s proffered reason for the delay was inadvertence.35 Because the requests for
    an open-records ruling were untimely, the City concedes the requested information is presumed to
    be subject to disclosure unless “a compelling reason to withhold the information” exists.36 Thus, the
    determinative issue is whether the City met its burden to rebut the public-disclosure presumption in
    section 552.302 that was triggered when the City failed to timely seek an attorney general decision.
    The City asserts a number of statutory exceptions to disclosure and adamantly argues that
    important policies underlying the attorney-client privilege present a compelling reason to withhold
    disclosure of confidential attorney-client communications. The City also claims a compelling reason
    to withhold the requested landfill information because disclosure would prejudice its bargaining
    position in a long-term transaction with millions of dollars at stake.
    Though attorney-client communications are not intended to be freely accessible to the public
    under the PIA or available to third parties in proceedings outside the PIA, the Attorney General
    determined the City must release the requested information.37 The Attorney General’s letter rulings
    were based on agency precedent limiting the “compelling reason” standard to (1) information falling
    under an exception the Attorney General considers to impose “mandatory” confidentiality, meaning
    35
    The City did not assert a reason for the untimeliness in proceedings below, but at oral argument before this
    Court, the City’s attorney said “we missed the deadlines in both of these instances. It was inadvertence I believe. There’s
    . . . nothing in the record to indicate anything else.” Oral Arg. No. 15-0073, 2016 W L 4992647, at *6 (Tex. Sept. 14,
    2016).
    36
    See T EX . G O V ’T C O DE § 552.302.
    37
    See Tex. Att’y Gen. OR2008-08859 (Hotel case); Tex. Att’y Gen. OR2010-08285 (Landfill case).
    9
    the governmental body is prohibited by law from disclosing the information and could not
    voluntarily disclose the information without being criminally sanctioned under the PIA,38 and
    (2) information that could jeopardize third parties if disclosed.39 The latter circumstance is not
    implicated by the public-information requests at issue, and the Attorney General asserts the former
    does not apply because the attorney-client privilege can be waived voluntarily, making
    confidentiality “discretionary,” not “mandatory.” Taking a constrained view of the statutory
    language, the Attorney General has determined that the mere ability to waive the attorney-client
    privilege automatically and categorically precludes the privilege from constituting a compelling
    reason to withhold confidential attorney-client communications, even if the privilege has not actually
    been waived. Accordingly, the Attorney General ruled that neither the confidential nature of
    38
    According to the Office of the Attorney General, mandatory exceptions include the confidential-by-law
    exception and those covering information made confidential under the PIA, including sections 552.102 (“Confidentiality
    of Certain Personnel Information”), .109 (“Confidentiality of Certain Private Communications of an Elected Office
    Holder”), .110 (“Confidentiality of Trade Secrets; Confidentiality of Certain Commercial or Financial Information”),
    .113 (“Confidentiality of Geological or Geophysical Information”), .114 (“Confidentiality of Student Records”), .115
    (“Confidentiality of Birth and Death Records”), .117 (“Confidentiality of Certain Addresses . . . and Personal Family
    Information”), .118 (“Confidentiality of Official Prescription Program Information”), .119 (“Confidentiality of Certain
    Photographs of Peace Officers”), .120 (“Confidentiality of Certain Rare Books and Original Manuscripts”), .121
    (“Confidentiality of Certain Documents Held for Historical Research”), .123 (“Confidentiality of Name of Applicant for
    [CEO] of Institution of Higher Education”), .124 (“Confidentiality of Records of Library or Library System”), .126
    (“Confidentiality of Name of Applicant for Superintendent of Public School District”), .131 (“Confidentiality of Certain
    Economic Development Information”), .133 (“Confidentiality of Public Power Utility Competitive Matters”), .134
    (“Confidentiality of Certain Information Relating to Inmate of Department of Criminal Justice”), .135 (“Confidentiality
    of Certain Information Held by School District”), .136 (“Confidentiality of Credit Card . . . Numbers”), .138
    (“Confidentiality of Family Violence Shelter Center . . . Information”), .139 (“Confidentiality of Government Information
    Related to Security or Infrastructure Issues for Computers”), .140 (“Confidentiality of Military Discharge Records”),
    .142 (“Confidentiality of Records Subject to Order of Nondisclosure”), .145 (“Confidentiality of Texas No-Call List”),
    .148 (“Confidentiality of Certain Personal Information Maintained by Municipality Pertaining to a M inor”), .151
    (“Confidentiality of Information Concerning Information Regarding Select Agents”). See O FFIC E O F TH E A TTO RN EY
    G EN ERAL , P U BLIC I N FO RM ATIO N H AN DBO O K 42-43 & n.158 (2016) (citing Act of May 30, 2011, 82d Leg., R.S., ch.
    1229, §§ 3-21, 23-26, 28-37).
    39
    E.g., Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-677 at 10 (2002).
    10
    attorney-client communications nor the City’s particularized allegation of prejudice to its business
    interests constitutes a compelling reason to withhold the requested information.
    The City challenged the letter rulings in separate trial-court proceedings and achieved
    conflicting results. In the Hotel case, the trial court held the City did not have a compelling reason
    to withhold the requested information. But in the Landfill case, the trial court found the information
    is excepted from required public disclosure, explaining the attorney-client privilege is an inherently
    “compelling reason to withhold information” because it is vital to our adversarial system of justice
    and no authority supports compelling disclosure of information protected by the attorney-client
    privilege based solely on a missed deadline.40 The City and the Attorney General appealed the
    respective adverse rulings.
    In the Landfill case, a divided Third Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s judgment in
    the City’s favor, holding attorney-client communications are excepted from disclosure under the
    confidential-by-law exception and, considering the privilege’s purposes and the protections afforded
    under the law, a compelling reason to withhold the information necessarily exists and rebuts the
    public-disclosure presumption in section 552.302.41
    The Hotel case was transferred to the Thirteenth Court of Appeals pursuant to a docket-
    equalization order. Applying the appellate decision in the Landfill case as precedent,42 the court
    40
    Cf. T EX . R. C IV . P. 193.3(d) (actual disclosure of privileged information or materials does not waive the
    privilege absent disclosure with intent to waive the privilege or failure to claim the privilege within ten days after the
    party actually discovers the disclosure occurred).
    41
    453 S.W .3d 580, 587-88 (Tex. App.—Austin 2015).
    42
    See T EX . R. A PP . P. 41.3 (“[T]he court of appeals to which the case is transferred must decide the case in
    accordance with the precedent of the transferor court under principles of stare decisis . . . .”).
    11
    reached the same conclusion, reversing the trial court’s judgment and rendering judgment for the
    City.43
    On appeal to this Court, we consolidated the Attorney General’s appeals for argument and
    disposition.44
    III. Discussion
    The parties agree that, had the City timely requested an attorney general decision, the PIA
    does not require public disclosure of attorney-client confidences in either the Landfill or the Hotel
    case. Nor is there any dispute that the City’s untimely requests activated a presumption that the
    requested information must be disclosed absent a “compelling reason to withhold the information.”
    Thus, the dispositive issue is whether a “compelling reason” exists to rebut the public-disclosure
    presumption.
    The resolution of that issue does not turn on whether the attorney-client privilege falls within
    one statutory exception or another, or whether confidentiality is at the governmental body’s
    discretion rather than compulsory, as asserted by the Attorney General. Such extra-textual
    distinctions are not decisive because the statute prescribes “a compelling reason to withhold the
    information” as the determinative and only standard.45
    43
    2015 W L 601974, at *5, __ S.W .3d __ (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2015).
    44
    In this appeal, we have received amicus curiae briefs from the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas,
    which supports the Attorney General’s position; and the Texas Municipal League, Texas City Attorneys Association,
    and Texas Association of Counties, which are aligned with the City of Dallas.
    45
    See T EX . G O V ’T C O DE § 552.302.
    12
    In resolving the dispute at hand, we affirm that even under the compelling-reason standard,
    information cannot be withheld unless a statutory exception applies, because public information
    remains public unless it is expressly excepted from disclosure.46 But merely establishing an
    exception cannot always be sufficient to rebut the public-disclosure presumption, because if the
    statute were so construed, the compelling-reason requirement would be rendered a nullity.
    We reject, however, the notion that statutory exceptions are categorically distinct from
    compelling reasons and that something more is always required to rebut the presumption that arises
    from a governmental body’s failure to timely request an attorney general decision. In some
    instances, important policies and interests that animate a statutory exception are compelling in their
    own right. We hold the attorney-client privilege, which is protected by one or more statutory
    exceptions to public disclosure,47 protects and advances interests that provide independently
    compelling reasons to withhold privileged information unless confidentiality has been waived.
    A. “Compelling Reason”
    The controlling issue in this case involves the proper construction and application of the
    “compelling reason” standard in section 552.302 of the PIA, which is implicated when a
    governmental body seeks to withhold information from public disclosure but fails to make a timely
    46
    See 
    id. § 552.001(a)
    (under the PIA, “each person is entitled, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, at
    all times to complete information about the affairs of government and the official acts of public officials and employees”
    (emphasis added)); see also Doe v. Tarrant Cty. Dist. Attorney’s Office, 269 S.W .3d 147, 153-54 (Tex. App.— Fort
    W orth 2008, no pet.); Simmons v. Kuzmich, 166 S.W .3d 342, 350 (Tex. App.— Fort W orth 2005, no pet.).
    47
    Because the parties agree the attorney-client exception applies to the requested information, we need not
    consider whether privileged and confidential attorney-client information is also protected by the confidential-by-law
    exception. See T EX . G O V ’T C O D E §§ 552.101, .107.
    13
    request for an attorney general decision.48 Statutory construction presents a question of law that we
    determine de novo under well-established principles.49
    As always, our mandate is to ascertain and give effect to the Legislature’s intent as expressed
    in the statutory language.50 Further, by statutory directive, we must liberally construe the PIA to
    promote the policy of open government.51
    The PIA does not define the phrase “compelling reason” or its constituent terms; accordingly,
    those words bear their common, ordinary meaning unless a different or more precise definition is
    apparent from the statutory context or the plain meaning yields an absurd result.52 Though neither
    of those qualifying exceptions applies, the Attorney General relies on agency-deference and
    legislative-ratification doctrines to support a restrictive construction of the compelling-reason
    standard.
    Long before the “compelling reason” safeguard was added to section 552.302, the Attorney
    General authorized governmental bodies to withhold information from public disclosure despite an
    untimely request for an open-records decision, if a “compelling reason” or a “compelling
    48
    See 
    id. §§ 552.301-.302.
    49
    TIC Energy & Chem., Inc. v. Martin, 498 S.W .3d 68, 74 (Tex. 2016).
    50
    
    Id. 51 T
    EX . G O V ’T C O D E § 552.001 (demanding liberal construction to implement the state’s policy of open
    government and to favor disclosing information about governmental affairs).
    
    52 Greene v
    . Farmers Ins. Exch., 446 S.W .3d 761, 765 (Tex. 2014).
    14
    demonstration” rebutted the statutory presumption of openness.53 But the Attorney General
    recognized only two circumstances that could satisfy that standard: “[1] the asserted exception is
    ‘mandatory,’ i.e., the information is confidential by law and the governmental body therefore is
    prohibited from releasing it, or [2] if the release of the information implicates third party interests.”54
    Citing legislative history and relying on agency precedent, the Attorney General asserts the
    Legislature intended a similarly constrained construction of section 552.302’s compelling-reason
    standard.55 As so construed, the Attorney General contends the City cannot rebut the public-
    disclosure presumption because neither condition exists.
    We decline the Attorney General’s invitation to import restrictions that alter the plain
    language of the statute at issue here. We have long held a statute’s unambiguous language controls
    the outcome. When a statute is clear and unambiguous, like section 552.302, we do not resort to
    extrinsic interpretive aids, such as legislative history, “because the statute’s plain language ‘is the
    surest guide to the Legislature’s intent.’”56 Moreover, although we may consider an agency’s
    construction of a statute, “deferring to an agency’s construction is appropriate only when the
    53
    See, e.g., Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-630 at 3 (1994); Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-552 at 1 (1990); Tex. Att’y Gen.
    ORD-319 at 1-2 (1982); Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-150 at 2 (1977); Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-34 at 2 (1974).
    54
    Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-677 at 10 (2002). The PIA expressly prohibits a governmental body from releasing
    information that is “confidential under law” and imposes criminal liability when a person distributes information that is
    considered confidential under the PIA. See Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-676 at 2 (2002) (citing T EX . G O V ’T C O D E §§ 552.007,
    .352).
    55
    See Act of May 25, 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1319, § 21, sec. 552.302, 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws 4500, 4509; see also
    Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-630 at 3 (1994); Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-552 at 1 (1990); Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-319 at 1-2 (1982);
    Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-150 at 2 (1977); Tex. Att’y Gen. ORD-34 at 2 (1974).
    56
    Sullivan v. Abraham, 488 S.W .3d 294, 299 (Tex. 2016) (quoting Prairie View A&M Univ. v. Chatha, 381
    S.W .3d 500, 507 (Tex. 2012)).
    15
    statutory language is ambiguous.”57 In like manner, legislative ratification applies only to ambiguous
    statutes.58 We reject the limitations the Attorney General champions because they are not textually
    supportable. Instead, we must apply the plain meaning of the phrase “compelling reason to withhold
    the information,” which is not as circumscribed as the Attorney General advocates.
    The meaning of the term “compelling” is of vital importance to our analysis because it
    represents a qualitative limitation on the justifications that permit withholding information from
    public disclosure. Neither a reason nor even a good reason would be sufficient to rebut the public-
    disclosure presumption. The reason must be “compelling.”
    Our examination of dictionaries, treatises, and judicial constructions of similar language59
    reveals the term “compelling” connotes urgency, forcefulness, and significantly demanding concerns.
    “Compelling” means “[u]rgently requiring attention” and “[d]rivingly forceful”;60 “not able to be
    resisted; overwhelming” and “not able to be refuted; inspiring conviction”;61 and “calling for
    57
    Sw. Royalties, Inc. v. Hegar, 500 S.W .3d 400, 404 (Tex. 2016); see also Boeing Co. v. Paxton, 466 S.W .3d
    831, 838 (Tex. 2015) (“W hile the Attorney General’s interpretation of the [PIA] is entitled to due consideration, as with
    other administrative statutory constructions, such deference must yield to unambiguous statutory language.”).
    58
    Tex. Dep’t of Protective & Regulatory Servs. v. Mega Child Care, Inc., 145 S.W .3d 170, 176 (Tex. 2004)
    (“If an ambiguous statute that has been interpreted by a court of last resort or given a longstanding construction by a
    proper administrative officer is re-enacted without substantial change, the Legislature is presumed to have been familiar
    with that interpretation and to have adopted it.”); see also Pretzer v. Motor Vehicle Bd., 138 S.W .3d 908, 915 (Tex.
    2004) (“[N]either legislative ratification nor judicial deference to an administrative interpretation can work a
    contradiction of plain statutory language.”).
    59
    See, e.g., Greene v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 446 S.W .3d 761, 765 (Tex. 2014) (looking to dictionaries, treatises,
    and state- and federal-court constructions in similar contexts).
    60
    T H E A M ERIC AN H ERITAGE D IC TIO N ARY (5th ed. 2016).
    61
    N EW O XFO RD A M ERIC AN D IC TIO N ARY (3d ed. 2010).
    16
    examination, scrutiny, consideration, or thought.”62 A need is “compelling” if it is “so great that
    irreparable harm or injustice would result if it is not met”;63 a reason may be “compelling” if time
    is of the essence;64 a governmental interest “is compelling when the balance weighs in its favor”;65
    and the public interest in maintaining confidentiality of information may be “compelling” if the
    interest advanced by the promise of confidentiality would be “eviscerated” by compelled
    disclosure.66
    Though not authoritative, we may, as this Court has often done, look to federal cases for
    guidance on the meaning of terms not otherwise defined.67 Federal courts have employed a
    “compelling reason” standard to determine whether information should be withheld from the public
    in an analogous context involving sealing judicial records.68 Much like the policies underlying the
    62
    W EBSTER ’S T HIR D N EW I N T ’L D IC TIO N ARY (2002).
    63
    B LACK ’S L AW D IC TIO N ARY (10th ed. 2014) (defining “compelling need”).
    64
    State ex rel. Angelini v. Hardberger, 932 S.W .2d 489, 490 (Tex. 1996) (holding exigent circumstances
    present a compelling reason for this Court to exercise discretion to decide a quo warranto without prior presentment to
    the district court).
    65
    Barr v. City of Sinton, 295 S.W .3d 287, 306 (Tex. 2009); see also Gonzales v. O Centro Beneficente Uniao
    do Vegetal, 
    546 U.S. 418
    , 431-32 (2006); B LACK ’S L AW D IC TIO N ARY (10th ed. 2014) (defining “compelling-state-
    interest test” as a method “whereby the government’s interest in the law and its purpose are balanced against an
    individual’s constitutional right that is affected by the law”).
    66
    Eli Lilly & Co. v. Marshall, 850 S.W .2d 155, 160 (Tex. 1993).
    67
    See, e.g., Greene v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 446 S.W .3d 761, 765 (Tex. 2014).
    68
    Rudd Equip. Co. v. John Deere Constr. & Forestry Co., 
    834 F.3d 589
    , 593 (6th Cir. 2016) (“‘[O]nly the most
    compelling reasons can justify non-disclosure of judicial records.’” (quoting In re Knoxville News-Sentinel Co., 
    723 F.2d 470
    , 476 (6th Cir. 1983))); U.S. v. Kravetz, 
    706 F.3d 47
    , 59 (1st Cir. 2013) (“‘Only the most compelling reasons can
    justify non-disclosure of judicial records that come within the scope of the common-law right of access.’” (quoting In
    re Providence Journal Co., Inc., 
    293 F.3d 1
    , 10 (1st Cir. 2002))); Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 
    435 F.3d 110
    ,
    123 (2d Cir. 2006) (“‘[D]ocuments used by parties moving for, or opposing, summary judgment should not remain under
    seal absent the most compelling reasons.’” (quoting Joy v. North, 
    692 F.2d 880
    , 893 (2d Cir. 1982))); Kamakana v. City
    17
    PIA, a court’s discretion to seal records is “bounded by a ‘long-established legal tradition’ of the
    ‘presumptive right of the public to inspect and copy judicial documents and files.’”69 To determine
    whether “compelling reasons” exist to shield information in court records from public exposure,
    federal courts employ a balancing test, weighing the interest the public has in access to judicial
    records against the interest of a party seeking to make judicial records confidential.70
    We similarly conclude that section 552.302’s compelling-reason standard requires an
    assessment of the relative importance of a reason for withholding information in relation to the
    presumption of openness.71 In that regard, a reason to withhold information will be “compelling”
    only when it is of such a pressing nature (e.g., urgent, forceful, or demanding) that it outweighs the
    interests favoring public access to the information and overcomes section 552.302’s presumption
    that disclosure is required.72
    & Cty. of Honolulu, 
    447 F.3d 1172
    , 1180 (9th Cir. 2006) (a party seeking to seal “documents attached to a dispositive
    motion must meet the high threshold of showing that ‘compelling reasons’ support secrecy” (citing Foltz v. State Farm
    Mut. Ins. Co., 
    331 F.3d 1122
    , 1136 (9th Cir. 2003))).
    69
    Rudd 
    Equip., 834 F.3d at 593
    (quoting 
    Knoxville, 723 F.2d at 474
    ).
    70
    See 
    id. at 594
    (“[I]n making this determination, a court must balance the litigants’ privacy interests against
    the public’s right of access, recognizing our judicial system’s strong presumption in favor of openness.”); 
    Kravetz, 706 F.3d at 59
    (“[A] court must carefully balance the presumptive public right of access against the competing interests that
    are at stake in a particular case.”); Nat’l Org. for Marriage v. McKee, 
    649 F.3d 34
    , 70 (1st Cir. 2011) (“Decisions on
    the sealing of judicial documents require a balancing of interests, although the scales tilt decidedly toward
    transparency.”); 
    Lugosch, 435 F.3d at 120
    (“[A]fter determining the weight of the presumption of access, the court must
    ‘balance competing considerations against it.’” (quoting U.S. v. Amodeo, 
    71 F.3d 1044
    , 1050 (2d Cir. 1995)));
    
    Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179
    (“[T]he court must ‘conscientiously balance[] the competing interests’ of the public and
    the party who seeks to keep certain judicial records secret.” (quoting 
    Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1135
    )).
    71
    Cf. Gonzales v. O Centro Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 
    546 U.S. 418
    , 431-32 (2006) (recognizing that in
    applying the compelling-interest test “context matters” and “relevant differences” should be taken into account (quoting
    Grutter v. Bollinger, 
    539 U.S. 306
    , 327 (2003), and Adarand Constructor, Inc. v. Peña, 
    515 U.S. 200
    , 228 (1995))).
    72
    See T EX . G O V ’T C O DE § 552.302.
    18
    B. The Attorney-Client Privilege Protects Significant Interests
    Privileges “represent society’s desire to protect certain relationships.”73 The attorney-client
    privilege holds a special place among privileges: it is “the oldest and most venerated of the common
    law privileges of confidential communications.”74 As “the most sacred of all legally recognized
    privileges,” “its preservation is essential to the just and orderly operation of our legal system.”75
    The privilege rests on “the need for the advocate and counselor to know all that relates to the
    client’s reasons for seeking representation if the professional mission is to be carried out.”76 “[T]he
    privilege exists to protect not only the giving of professional advice to those who can act on it but
    also the giving of information to the lawyer to enable him to give sound and informed advice.”77 The
    privilege’s purpose could not be more evident: “to encourage clients to make full disclosure to their
    attorneys”78 and, in return, to allow clients to obtain full, fair, and candid counsel.79 By promoting
    “full and frank communications between attorneys and their clients,” the privilege “promote[s]
    broader public interests in the observance of law and administration of justice.”80
    73
    Republic Ins. Co. v. Davis, 856 S.W .2d 158, 163 (Tex. 1993).
    
    74 U.S. v
    . Edwards, 
    303 F.3d 606
    , 618 (5th Cir. 2002).
    
    75 U.S. v
    . Bauer, 
    132 F.3d 504
    , 510 (9th Cir. 1997).
    76
    Trammel v. U.S., 
    445 U.S. 40
    , 51 (1980).
    77
    Upjohn Co. v. U.S., 
    449 U.S. 383
    , 390 (1981).
    78
    Fisher v. U.S., 
    425 U.S. 391
    , 403 (1976).
    79
    See, e.g., Upjohn 
    Co., 449 U.S. at 390
    .
    80
    
    Id. at 389.
    19
    In the governmental context, the attorney-client privilege applies with “special force.”81
    “[P]ublic officials are duty-bound to understand and respect constitutional, judicial and statutory
    limitations on their authority; thus, their access to candid legal advice directly and significantly
    serves the public interest.”82
    The notion that “sound legal advice or advocacy serves public ends” is not rationally
    debatable.83 After all, the government conducts its business on behalf of the public (residents, voters,
    taxpayers, and ratepayers),84 and a fully informed servant is a more capable servant.                                     The
    attorney-client privilege “encourag[es] government officials formulating policies in the public’s
    interest to consult with counsel in conducting that public business.”85 The privilege also protects the
    public fisc when the government is participating in litigation, negotiating billion-dollar contracts,
    and performing regulatory acts under complex regulatory schemes.
    Fundamentally, the promise of confidentiality fosters “a culture in which consultation with
    government lawyers is accepted as a normal, desirable, and even indispensable part of conducting
    81
    In re Cty. of Erie, 
    473 F.3d 413
    , 419 (2d Cir. 2007) (quoting In re Grand Jury Investigation, 
    399 F.3d 527
    ,
    534 (2d Cir. 2005)).
    82
    
    Id. at 418-19.
    83
    Upjohn 
    Co., 449 U.S. at 389
    .
    84
    See In re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum, 
    731 F.2d 1032
    , 1036-37 (2d Cir. 1984) (“[T]he availability
    of sound legal advice inures to the benefit not only of the client . . . but also of the public which is entitled to compliance
    with the ever growing and increasingly complex body of public law.”).
    85
    Guidiville Rancheria of Cal. v. U.S., No. 12-cv-1326 YGR, 2013 W L 6571945, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 13,
    2013).
    20
    public business.”86 And though the dissent dismisses the importance of the privilege in the
    governmental context as mere hyperbole,87 affording weight to the policies and interests that drive
    the privilege’s application cannot be disregarded so handily. At a bare minimum, sound judgment
    tells us that the people are best served when government officials, “who are expected to uphold and
    execute the law and who may face criminal prosecution for failing to do so,” operate in an
    atmosphere that encourages them “to seek out and receive fully informed legal advice.”88
    The attorney-client privilege exists—and has been a cornerstone of our legal system for
    nearly 500 years89 —because the interests protected and secured by the promise of confidentiality are
    not merely significant; they are quintessentially imperative.                      Safeguarding the privilege is
    important—indeed, compelling—because the consequences of disclosure are far from
    inconsequential. Once information has been disclosed, loss of confidentiality is irreversible.90 The
    bell cannot be unrung, and neither dissemination nor use can be effectively restrained.91
    Unsurprisingly, the ramifications are not limited to particularized matters, but are also wrought on
    86
    Grand Jury 
    Investigation, 399 F.3d at 534
    ; see also U.S. v. Jicarilla Apache Nation, 
    564 U.S. 162
    , 169-70
    (2011) (“‘The privilege aids government entities and employees in obtaining legal advice founded on a complete and
    accurate factual picture.’” (quoting R ESTATEM EN T (T H IR D ) O F TH E L AW G OVERN IN G L AW Y ERS § 74 cmt. b (2000))).
    87
    Post at 3 (B O Y D , J., dissenting).
    88
    Grand Jury 
    Investigation, 399 F.3d at 534
    .
    89
    8 J O H N H. W IG M O RE , E VID EN CE § 2290 (McNaughton rev. 1961) (“The history of [the attorney-client]
    privilege goes back to the reign of Elizabeth I, where the privilege already appears as unquestioned.” (citing Berd v.
    Lovelace, Cary 88, 21 Eng. Rep. 33 (Ch. 1577))).
    90
    See Pearson v. Miller, 
    211 F.3d 57
    , 64 (3d Cir. 2000).
    91
    See Compelling Need, B LACK ’S L AW D IC TIO N ARY (10th ed. 2014) (a need is “compelling” if it is “so great
    that irreparable harm . . . would result if it is not met”).
    21
    a systemic level.92 The PIA recognizes this by categorically excepting privileged information from
    the public-access requirement. More to the point, however, significant interests independent of the
    PIA’s exceptions favor withholding confidential and privileged attorney-client communications from
    compelled disclosure.
    Though the precise issue presented in this case is one of first impression under the PIA,
    analogous authority from this Court confirms that the attorney-client privilege is inherently
    compelling. For example, in In re George, we examined the attorney-client privilege in a dispute
    involving the client’s access to attorney work product.93 After the client’s attorneys had been
    disqualified from representing her based on their prior representation of an opposing party, the client
    sought possession and control of the attorneys’ work product.                           We held that maintaining
    confidentiality of the opponent’s attorney-client communications—which had been the basis for the
    disqualification order—provided a “compelling reason” to deprive the client of her significant
    property right to the work product generated by her former counsel.94
    In Ford Motor Co. v. Leggat, we considered whether to apply Michigan’s more expansive
    protections of the attorney-client privilege in lieu of Texas’s narrower attorney-client privilege in a
    conflict-of-laws analysis.95 We held that “[t]he purpose of the attorney-client privilege and the
    92
    See supra n.89.
    93
    28 S.W .3d 511, 512-13 (Tex. 2000) (orig. proceeding).
    94
    
    Id. at 516-20;
    see also 
    id. at 525
    (B RISTER , J., dissenting) (“I agree with the Court that Ms. Anderson should
    not be deprived of her property without a compelling reason, but attorney-client confidentiality is a compelling reason.”).
    95
    904 S.W .2d 643, 646-47 (Tex. 1995).
    22
    reliance placed by the client on the confidential nature of the communications create[d] special
    reasons” to apply the broader attorney-client privilege.96
    In a different context involving similar tensions between public access and the need for
    confidentiality, federal courts have affirmed that the need to preserve the attorney-client privilege
    is compelling. Applying a compelling-reason standard to determine whether to seal judicial records,
    federal courts generally accept the attorney-client privilege as a “compelling reason” justifying a
    motion to seal97 even when balanced against the public’s substantial right to access the information:
    “When privileged materials must be filed in a case, and the privilege has not been waived, courts
    generally find compelling reasons to overcome the strong presumption in favor of public access exist
    sufficient to warrant sealing those materials.”98
    96
    
    Id. at 647
    (emphasis added).
    97
    See Hanson v. Wells Fargo Home Mortg., Inc., No. C13-0939JLR, 2013 W L 5674997, at *3 (W .D. W ash.
    Oct. 17, 2013) (“Courts generally accept attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine as a ‘compelling reason’
    justifying a motion to seal.” (citing 
    Lugosch, 435 F.3d at 125
    )); Travelers Indem. Co. v. Excalibur Reinsurance Corp.,
    No. 11-CV-1209 (CSH), 2013 W L 4012772, at *5 (D. Conn. Aug. 5, 2013) (“[I]t is well-settled within the Second
    Circuit that the attorney-client privilege may be a sufficiently compelling reason to defeat the public’s right of access
    to judicial documents.”); Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. of Am. v. Centex Homes, No. 11-3638-SC, 2013 W L 707918, at *2
    (N.D. Cal. Feb. 26, 2013) (accepting attorney-client privilege as a compelling reason to allow a party to refile redacted
    version of document attached to summary-judgment motion); TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. v. Avago Techs. Ltd.,
    No. CV 09-1531-PHX-JAT, 2011 W L 6182346, at *5 (D. Ariz. Dec. 13, 2011) (accepting attorney-client privilege as
    a compelling reason justifying sealing court records); Asdale v. Int’l Game Tech., No. 3:04-CV-703-RAM,
    2010 W L 2161930, at *5 (D. Nev. May 28, 2010) (accepting attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine as
    providing both good cause and a compelling reason to seal nondispositive and dispositive motions, respectively).
    98
    Wilcox v. Bibin, 2:15-CV-00261-EJL-REB, 2016 W L 740396, at *3 (D. Idaho Feb. 24, 2016); see also Rudd
    Equip. Co. v. John Deere Constr. & Forestry Co., 
    834 F.3d 589
    , 594-95 (6th Cir. 2016) (“[O]nly trade secrets,
    information covered by a recognized privilege (such as the attorney-client privilege), and information required by statute
    to be maintained in confidence (such as the name of a minor victim of a sexual assault), is typically enough to overcome
    the presumption of access.” (quoting Baxter Int’l, Inc. v. Abbott Labs, 
    297 F.3d 544
    , 546 (7th Cir. 2002))); Ancier v.
    Egan, CV No. 14-00294 JMS-RLP, 2015 W L 6757528, at *2 (D. Haw. Nov. 4, 2015) (“Generally, compelling reasons
    that are sufficient to overcome this strong presumption exist when court filings contain attorney-client communications.”
    (citing Creative Tent Int’l Inc. v. Kramer, No. CV-15-8005-PCT-SMM, 2015 W L 4638320, at *3 (D. Ariz. Aug. 4,
    2015))); Guidiville Rancheria of Cal. v. U.S., No. 12-cv-1326 YGR, 2013 W L 6571945, at *9 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 13, 2013)
    23
    As the PIA and the common law both bear witness, the attorney-client privilege protects a
    relationship that is integral to the administration of justice as well as a government that functions for
    the benefit of the people.
    C. Waiver
    Despite advancing and protecting important interests, the attorney-client privilege could not
    be a “compelling reason to withhold the [requested] information” if confidentiality has been waived.
    Thus, before balancing the interests protected by the privilege against those served by the PIA, we
    must consider whether noncompliance with section 552.301’s ten-day deadline waives the
    attorney-client privilege. We hold that a governmental body does not forfeit the attorney-client
    privilege by failing to timely request an attorney general decision under section 552.301.
    “Generally, ‘waiver’ consists of the intentional relinquishment of a known right or intentional
    conduct inconsistent with claiming that right.”99 Merely missing a statutory deadline does not mirror
    any of the conduct our rules and case law recognize as waiving a privilege. Nor does the PIA’s
    language support the conclusion that the privilege may be waived by inaction or delay. We elaborate
    on both points as follows.
    Rule 511 of the Texas Rules of Evidence governs waiver of evidentiary privileges by
    voluntary disclosure. Subsection (a) of Rule 511 sets forth the general rule that evidentiary
    privileges are waived if the privilege holder voluntarily discloses the privileged matter, consents to
    (“[T]he attorney-client privilege . . . establishes compelling reasons for sealing.”).
    99
    In re Nationwide Ins. Co., 494 S.W .3d 708, 712 (Tex. 2016) (orig. proceeding).
    24
    disclosure, or places the matter at issue.100 The circumstances Rule 511(a) recognizes as waiving a
    privilege are materially dissimilar to those presented in this case. Subsection (b) of the rule applies
    only to the attorney-client privilege and imposes limitations on the general waiver rule to preserve
    the privilege despite actual disclosure.101 Under subsection (b), the attorney-client privilege is
    afforded additional protection against waiver.
    The attorney-client privilege may also be waived by inadvertent disclosure during litigation,
    if the disclosure is accompanied by conduct inconsistent with claiming the privilege of
    confidentiality. “[T]he essential function of the privilege is to protect a confidence that, once
    revealed by any means, leaves the privilege with no legitimate function to perform.”102
    Notwithstanding actual disclosure, however, Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 193.3(d) preserves a
    claim of privilege if the privilege holder (1) did not intend to waive the privilege and (2) takes
    prompt action to claim the privilege after “actually discover[ing]” the disclosure was made.103 Rule
    193.3(d) “was designed to ensure that important privileges are not waived by mere inadvertence or
    mistake.”104 But when inadvertence is coupled with failure to take prompt remedial action after
    100
    See T EX . R. E VID . 511(a).
    101
    
    Id. 511(b). 102
                   1 M C C O RM IC K O N E VID EN CE § 93 (7th ed. 2013) (emphasis added).
    103
    T EX . R. C IV . P. 193.3(d); see also T EX . R. E VID . 511(b)(2) (“W hen made in a Texas state proceeding, an
    inadvertent disclosure does not operate as a waiver if the holder followed the procedures of Rule of Civil Procedure
    193.3(d).”).
    104
    In re Christus Spohn Hosp. Kleberg, 222 S.W .3d 434, 439 (Tex. 2007) (orig. proceeding); see also T EX . R.
    C IV . P. 193.4 cmt. 4 (“The focus is on the intent to waive the privilege, not the intent to produce the material or
    information. A party who fails to diligently screen documents before producing them does not waive a claim of
    privilege.”).
    25
    discovering actual disclosure of privileged information, the privilege is waived because inaction
    under such circumstances is inconsistent with claiming the privilege.
    Citing Rule 193.3(d) by analogy, the Attorney General suggests sections 552.301 and
    552.302 should be construed as effecting a waiver by inaction or omission. But the scenario
    described in Rule 193.3(d)—actual disclosure followed by delayed action results in waiver—is the
    converse of the question presented here: does delay waive the privilege and compel disclosure?
    Rule 193.3(d) contemplates waiver of confidentiality in the context of an inadvertent, but
    actual, disclosure.105 In this case, there has been no disclosure, and the issue is whether the PIA
    compels disclosure despite the absence of actual disclosure and without regard to the City’s efforts
    to maintain confidentiality under section 552.302. Rule 193.3(d) is substantively inapposite.
    In addition to actual disclosure, the attorney-client privilege may be waived by “offensive
    use” of the privilege. Offensive use occurs when a party seeking affirmative relief “attempts to
    protect outcome-determinative information from any discovery.”106 Though we have recognized the
    vitality of the offensive-use doctrine, we have explained that “an offensive use waiver of a privilege
    should not lightly be found” because privileges “represent society’s desire to protect certain
    105
    See T EX . R. C IV . P. 193.3(d) (“A party who produces material or information without intending to waive a
    claim of privilege does not waive that claim under these rules or the Rules of Evidence.”); T EX . R. E VID . 511(b)
    (“Notwithstanding paragraph (a), the following provisions apply, in the circumstances set out, to disclosure of a
    communication or information covered by the lawyer-client privilege or work-product protection.”).
    106
    In re M-I L.L.C., 2016 W L 2981342, at *7, __ S.W .3d __ (Tex. 2016); see Republic Ins. Co. v. Davis, 856
    S.W .2d 158, 163 (Tex. 1993) (“In an instance in which the [attorney-client] privilege is being used as a sword rather than
    a shield, the privilege may be waived.”).
    26
    relationships.”107 An untimely request for an attorney general decision under section 552.301 does
    not implicate concerns equivalent to those undergirding the offensive-use doctrine.
    Finally, and most decisively, section 552.302’s language cannot reasonably be construed as
    effecting a waiver of confidentiality. Some PIA sections explicitly refer to waiver,108 but section
    552.302 does not. Rather than waiving interests that are protected by a statutory exception to
    disclosure, section 552.302’s express language creates a presumption that disclosure is required.109
    Because the presumption is rebuttable, we conclude that missing the statutory deadline in section
    552.301 does not waive the attorney-client privilege.
    D. Balancing Competing Interests
    Our inquiry does not end with establishing that the interests secured by the attorney-client
    privilege are inherently compelling and that mere delay in seeking an attorney general decision does
    not waive the privilege. Those determinations impact only one side of the balancing equation. We
    must also consider whether the significant interests the attorney-client privilege advances outweigh
    competing interests favoring disclosure and the statutory presumption that disclosure is required.
    We begin our analysis by observing that, under the PIA, (1) the public is not entitled to
    information the Legislature has chosen to except from required public disclosure,110 and (2) section
    552.302’s “compelling reason” safeguard applies only to information the PIA already excepts from
    107
    Republic Ins. Co., 856 S.W .2d at 163.
    108
    See T EX . G O V ’T C O D E §§ 552.0038(f), .008(b), .134(d), .156(d).
    109
    
    Id. § 552.302
    .
    110
    
    Id. §§ 552.001,
    .101-.156.
    27
    disclosure.111 Accordingly, a requestor’s general right of access to public information is not a
    competing interest to be weighed under the compelling-reason balancing test.112
    Instead, the failure to timely request an attorney general decision under section 552.301 of
    the PIA implicates the public’s interest in the “prompt” production of public information.113 The
    PIA’s deadlines help ensure governmental bodies do not impede the public’s access to public
    information. Compliance with statutory deadlines furthers important interests in avoiding delay and
    preventing gamesmanship and obstructionism.
    These interests are undoubtedly significant, but the PIA expressly contemplates they may be
    overcome by countervailing interests of utmost importance.114 We conclude the interests protected
    by the attorney-client privilege surpass that high threshold. When weighed against the need for
    expediency, the interests protected by the attorney-client privilege—and the irremediable
    consequences of disclosure—are demonstrably more compelling.
    Under the PIA, the public has no right of access to privileged information in the first instance
    and only a rebuttable presumption of access in the second.115 We must also consider that the
    111
    See 
    id. §§ 552.001(a),
    .021, .301-.302.
    112
    See Tex. Dep’t of Pub. Safety v. Cox Tex. Newspapers, L.P., 343 S.W .3d 112, 114 (Tex. 2011); cf. U.S. v.
    Kravetz, 
    706 F.3d 47
    , 59 (1st Cir. 2013) (“‘Though the public’s right of access is vibrant, it is not unfettered. Important
    countervailing interests can, in given instances, overwhelm the usual presumption and defeat access.’” (quoting Siedle
    v. Putnam Invs., Inc., 
    147 F.3d 7
    , 10 (1st Cir. 1998))).
    113
    T EX . G O V ’T C O DE § 552.221(a).
    114
    See 
    id. § 552.302.
    115
    See, e.g., 
    id. §§ 552.107
    (categorically excepting attorney-client privileged information from the statute’s
    public-disclosure requirement), .302 (rebuttably presuming otherwise exempt information is open to the public); cf. In
    re Lindsey, 
    158 F.3d 1263
    , 1269 (D.C. Cir. 1988) (recognizing that, although the federal Freedom of Information Act
    (FOIA) “[did] not itself create a government attorney-client privilege[,] ‘Congress intended that agencies should not lose
    28
    attorney-client privilege is afforded to the government for the public’s benefit; accordingly, the
    public’s interest is not one-sided in this context.                  Because the privilege benefits both the
    governmental body and the people it represents, the public’s interest in maintaining confidentiality
    must be factored into the analysis. Among other shared benefits, the privilege shields confidential
    information from third parties whose litigation or business interests are adverse to the public’s
    interest, promotes a culture that incentivizes governmental bodies to seek legal advice, and allows
    the free flow of information between attorney and client without fear of compelled public
    disclosure.116
    Protecting privileged attorney-client communications is also more urgent than promptness
    because the PIA provides disincentives to gamesmanship that might otherwise reward dilatory
    conduct, intentional or otherwise. Under the PIA, there is no benefit to bypassing the Attorney
    General altogether, and delay bears its own consequences.
    the protection traditionally afforded through the evidentiary privileges simply because of the passage of FOIA’” (quoting
    Coastal States Gas Corp. v. Dep’t of Energy, 
    617 F.2d 854
    , 862 (D.C. Cir. 1980))); R ESTATEM EN T (T H IR D ) O F TH E L AW
    G O VERN IN G L AW Y ERS § 74 (2000) (“Unless applicable law otherwise provides, the attorney-client privilege extends to
    a communication of a governmental organization . . . and of an individual employee or other agent of a governmental
    organization as a client with respect to his or her personal interest . . . .”).
    116
    See In re Grand Jury Investigation, 
    399 F.3d 527
    , 534 (2d Cir. 2005) (“Abrogating the privilege undermines
    that culture and thereby impairs the public interest.”); cf. U.S. v. Jicarilla Apache Nation, 
    564 U.S. 162
    , 169 (2011)
    (“[T]he objectives of the attorney-client privilege apply to governmental clients.”); Grand Jury 
    Investigation, 399 F.3d at 533
    (“There is, then, substantial authority for the view that the rationale supporting the attorney-client privilege
    applicable to private entities has general relevance to governmental entities as well.”); Ross v. City of Memphis, 
    423 F.3d 596
    , 602 (6th Cir. 2005) (“W e see no reason that [the] function [of promoting full and frank communications and
    encouraging observance of law] is no longer served simply because the corporation is a municipality or, more broadly,
    that the organization or agency is a government entity. Governments must not only follow the laws, but are under
    additional constitutional and ethical obligations to their citizens. The privilege helps insure that conversations between
    municipal officials and attorneys will be honest and complete. In so doing, it encourages and facilitates the fulfillment
    of those obligations.”); 8 J O H N H. W IGM ORE , E VID EN CE § 2291 (McNaughton rev. 1961) (“The policy of the privilege
    has been plainly grounded since the latter part of the 1700s . . . . In order to promote freedom of consultation of legal
    advisers by clients, the apprehension of compelled disclosure by the legal advisers must be removed; hence the law must
    prohibit such disclosure except on the client’s consent.”).
    29
    For one thing, the interests protected by some statutory exceptions will not independently
    satisfy the compelling-reason standard; thus, failing to timely assert an applicable exception could
    result in mandatory disclosure that might otherwise have been avoided. Because section 552.302
    provides only a limited safeguard, missing the deadline in section 552.301 is a risky endeavor.
    Refusing to request or comply with an attorney general decision carries the additional risk
    of a civil-enforcement action that—win or lose—would surely be costly. But if lost, obtaining and
    relying on an attorney general decision under section 552.301 precludes an award of attorney fees
    and litigation costs to the prevailing plaintiff. The PIA’s fee-shifting provisions thus provide both
    a carrot and a stick.
    Finally, a governmental body’s only way to avoid disclosing public information to a requestor
    is a suit that “seeks declaratory relief from compliance with [an attorney general] decision issued
    under Subchapter G [sections 552.301 to 552.309].”117 This provision also helps secure the Attorney
    General’s oversight as contemplated by the Legislature.
    To require public disclosure of confidential attorney-client communications as an
    automatic—and irremediable—sanction for missing a statutory deadline is not necessary to achieve
    the PIA’s objective of an open government and would be a jurisprudential course fraught with peril.
    Compelled forfeiture of the privilege under such circumstances necessarily undermines its
    underpinnings and threatens the foundation of a justice system that thrives on full and candid legal
    117
    T EX . G O V ’T C O DE § 552.324(a)(2).
    30
    representation. Most importantly, however, such an outcome is not supported by a plain reading of
    the statutory text.
    The PIA’s exception for attorney-client communications affirms the importance of honest
    and candid conversations between governmental bodies and their legal counsel. Eviscerating the
    privilege by compelling disclosure in pursuit of “promptness” may have a wide-reaching and chilling
    effect on communications between governmental bodies and their counsel.118 When a privilege as
    sacrosanct as the attorney-client privilege is irretrievably lost under the unexceptional facts presented
    here, “governmental entities might well choose to forego fruitful self-analysis and decide not to seek
    needed legal advice.”119
    Robotic perfection by a governmental body’s public information officer is a statutory ideal,
    not an absolute requirement. To err is human, but to conduct a City’s legal affairs without the
    occasional error would require divinity. The safeguard the Legislature enacted in section 552.302
    exists to prevent such a scenario.
    E. Section 552.302 Does Not Require Disclosure
    When balanced against the PIA’s promptness requirements, the interests safeguarded by the
    attorney-client privilege present compelling reasons to withhold information protected by the
    privilege. The harm from compelled dissemination of confidential attorney-client communications
    is irremediable, and the consequences are visited on both the governmental body and the taxpayers
    118
    In re Lindsey, 
    148 F.3d 1100
    , 1112 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (“W e may assume that if the government attorney-client
    privilege does not apply in certain contexts this may chill some communications between government officials and
    government lawyers.”).
    119
    In re City of Georgetown, 53 S.W .3d 328, 333 (Tex. 2001) (orig. proceeding).
    31
    it represents. Mandating disclosure would further undermine the attorney-client privilege’s
    fundamental purpose by impairing frank discourse between a governmental body and its counsel.120
    In contrast, allowing a governmental body to withhold attorney-client communications after
    an untimely request for an attorney general decision bears less onerous consequences that may be
    ameliorated by several statutory incentives and disincentives.121 Stated summarily, even when a
    compelling reason exists to withhold disclosure, the PIA incentivizes governmental bodies to request
    an attorney general decision (1) to ensure the attorney-client privilege covers all the information the
    governmental body desires to withhold, (2) to assert additional exceptions for withholding
    information for which no “compelling reason to withhold information” exists, (3) to avoid a costly
    120
    See Upjohn Co. v. U.S., 
    449 U.S. 383
    , 389 (1981) (“[The attorney-client] privilege ‘is founded upon the
    necessity, in the interest and administration of justice, of the aid of persons having knowledge of the law and skilled in
    its practice, which assistance can only be safely and readily availed of when free from the consequences or the
    apprehension of disclosure.’” (quoting Hunt v. Blackburn, 
    128 U.S. 464
    , 470 (1888))); In re Lindsey, 
    158 F.3d 1263
    ,
    1276 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (“W e may assume that if the government attorney-client privilege does not apply in certain
    contexts this may chill some communications between government officials and government lawyers.”); Coastal States
    Gas Corp. v. Dep’t of Energy, 
    617 F.2d 854
    , 863 (D.C. Cir. 1980) (when “the Government is dealing with its attorneys
    as would any private party seeking advice to protect personal interests,” it “needs the same assurance of confidentiality
    so it will not be deterred from full and frank communications with its counselors”); Mead Data Cent., Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t
    of Air Force, 
    566 F.2d 242
    , 252 (D.C. Cir. 1977) (“The policy objective of [the attorney-client] privilege is certainly
    consistent with the policy objective of [an exemption] intended to protect the quality of agency decision-making by
    preventing the disclosure requirement of the [Freedom of Information Act] from cutting off the flow of information to
    agency decision-makers. Certainly this covers professional advice on legal questions which bears on those decisions.
    The opinion of even the finest attorney, however, is no better than the information which his client provides. In order
    to ensure that a client receives the best possible legal advice, based on a full and frank discussion with his attorney, the
    attorney-client privilege assures him that confidential communications to his attorney will not be disclosed without his
    consent.”).
    121
    E.g., T EX . G O V ’T C O D E §§ 552.321 (requestor or attorney general suit for writ of mandamus), .3215 (action
    for declaratory or injunctive relief against a governmental body for violating the PIA), .323 (fee-shifting provisions
    favoring substantially prevailing plaintiffs).
    32
    civil-enforcement action, and (4) to avoid assessment of litigation costs and reasonable attorney fees
    if the plaintiff substantially prevails in such an action.122
    Although we must construe the PIA liberally in favor of granting requests for information,123
    we hold that the significant interests supporting withholding confidential and privileged
    attorney-client communications outweigh the competing interests supporting disclosure. We
    therefore conclude a “compelling reason” to withhold confidential attorney-client communications
    exists and, absent waiver, rebuts the presumption that the information protected by the privilege is
    “subject to required public disclosure.”124
    F. Response to the Dissent
    Though quibbling here and there about the actual importance of the attorney-client privilege
    in the public sector, the dissent’s analysis fundamentally depends on the fiat that exceptions and
    compelling reasons are mutually exclusive under the statute.125 But no authority—statutory or
    otherwise—supports the conclusion that compelling interests motivating a statutory exception are
    categorically disqualified from constituting a “compelling reason” to withhold information from
    122
    See 
    id. §§ 552.321,
    .3215, .323.
    123
    
    Id. § 552.001
    (demanding liberal construction to implement the state’s policy of open government and to
    favor disclosing information about governmental affairs).
    124
    See 
    id. § 552.302.
    In light of this holding, we need not address the City’s alternative argument that
    “substantial harm” to its bargaining position constitutes a “compelling reason” for withholding the requested information.
    125
    Post at 36-37 (B O Y D , J., dissenting) (“Because the Act requires both that an exception apply and that a
    compelling reason exist, neither the Act’s exceptions nor the privileges and confidentiality that trigger an exception are
    sufficient alone to establish a compelling reason.”); 
    id. at 30
    (“[N]either an exception nor the interests it supports can
    independently qualify as a compelling reason that outweighs the public’s interest in prompt access to public information
    under the Act.”). But see 
    id. at 33
    n.20 (agreeing the Court could consider the “‘policy of preventing bioterrorism’” that
    underlies section 552.152’s exception from public disclosure “when deciding whether a compelling reason exists”).
    33
    public disclosure. The dissent’s proclamation pays lip service to our fundamental obligation to
    construe statutes as written, but is textually unsupportable and, frankly, preposterous.
    First, the Legislature has placed no restrictions on the compelling-reason standard. Indeed,
    as the dissent readily acknowledges, the “actual language” in section 552.302 applies to “any
    ‘compelling reason.’”126 Second, the statute betrays no Legislative intent to ignore policies embodied
    in and interests protected by statutory exceptions in determining whether a “compelling reason to
    withhold the information” exists. Not a single word in the PIA supports a construction of section
    552.302 as rendering irrelevant, for example, the policy of preventing bioterrorism that underlies
    section 552.151 or the interest in avoiding a “substantial threat of physical harm” to an employee or
    officer as advanced by section 552.152.127 In this case, our responsibility to determine whether a
    compelling reason exists requires that we consider the interests protected by the attorney-client
    privilege—interests the dissent ignores entirely—and not disregard them out of hand merely because
    they were important enough for the Legislature to protect in the first instance.128
    This is not, as the dissent says, “a distinction without a difference”129 because not all of the
    policies and interests animating a statutory exception will necessarily be compelling in their own
    126
    
    Id. at 33-34.
    127
    See T EX . G O V ’T C O D E §§ 552.151, .152.
    128
    The dissent’s claim to “acknowledge the privilege’s importance” falls flat because the analysis does not
    recognize or evaluate the interests underlying the privilege in declaring those interests are necessarily overcome by delay
    and necessarily overpowered by the public’s interest in promptness. Post at 3 n.1, 30 (B O Y D , J., dissenting). The dissent,
    instead, relies on the circular argument that the Legislature excepted privileged information from disclosure to protect
    important interests, but those interests cannot be “compelling reason[s] to withhold information from disclosure” because
    the Legislature excepted privileged information from disclosure to the public. See 
    id. at 16-17.
    129
    
    Id. at 16.
    34
    right—in whole or part.130 We cannot, however, ignore those that are. The statutory support for this
    construction of the statute is, quite simply, the compelling-reason standard articulated in section
    552.302.131
    The dissent’s theory to the contrary turns on an interpretation of section 552.302 that requires
    privilege plus other compelling circumstances. Aside from engrafting restrictions that do not exist
    in the statutory language, the dissent offers few parameters as to what would qualify. We are left
    only with the dissent’s view that a compelling reason (1) will usually address the governmental
    body’s “reasons for its failure to timely and properly assert the privilege,”132 and (2) “might exist if
    the governmental body establishes that substantial harm would result if the information is
    released.”133
    In summarily concluding that the interests protected by the attorney-client privilege are not
    significant enough to rebut the public-disclosure presumption, the dissent gives short shrift to the
    compelling interests underlying the attorney-client privilege, cites no authority supporting compelled
    disclosure of attorney-client privileged information due to tardiness or inaction, and overlooks the
    130
    See, e.g., T EX . G O V ’T C O D E §§ 552.106(a) (excepting from mandatory disclosure “a draft or working paper
    involved in the preparation of proposed legislation”), .122 (excepting from mandatory disclosure a test item developed
    by an educational agency funded by state revenue, a licensing agency, or a governmental body).
    131
    Post at 13 (complaining that “the Court can provide no statutory basis for deciding when the interests that
    an exception protects are categorically compelling and when they are not”).
    132
    
    Id. at 30.
    The dissent intimates that an untimely request for an attorney general decision equates to “failure
    to timely and properly assert the [attorney-client] privilege.” 
    Id. W hile
    it is true that, in this case, the City did not timely
    and properly assert a statutory exception to disclosure, the City has jealously guarded its attorney-client privilege,
    asserting it as a “compelling reason to withhold the information” from disclosure. There is no statutory deadline for
    asserting the attorney-client privilege or for claiming a “compelling reason to withhold the information.”
    133
    
    Id. at 31.
    35
    public interest in maintaining confidentiality of attorney-client communications. As a substitute for
    these inquiries, the dissent’s analysis elevates promptness to near conclusive importance. The PIA
    does not, however, require a compelling reason for “untimeliness” or “lack of diligence”; it requires
    a “compelling reason to withhold the information” from public disclosure. The significant interests
    advanced and protected by the attorney-client privilege meet that standard.
    The dissent’s analytical gaps are not overcome by the host of boilerplate open-records
    decisions the dissent offers to “prove[]” that routinely depriving the attorney-client privilege of force
    over the last twenty-two years has not prevented governmental bodies from seeking legal advice or
    chilled full and frank legal communications.134 No matter how many open-records decisions have
    applied the Attorney General’s unduly restrictive interpretation of section 552.302—the underlying
    rationale of which the dissent correctly repudiates135—proof that a rule has been applied is no proof
    of the rule’s impact. The reality is we do not know how twenty-two years of routinely adverse legal
    rulings have shaped internal discourse; whether ethical and legal violations have occurred that may
    have been prevented under a proper construction of the PIA; or how the public fisc has been affected.
    We do know, however, that the attorney-client privilege exists because the systemic harm from
    denying it is real even if it is not quantifiable.136 We also know that the privilege’s purpose is well
    134
    
    Id. at 3,
    26-29.
    135
    
    Id. at 14
    & n.11.
    136
    See supra, nn.88-92.
    36
    established and enduring, and that it applies with “special force” to the government because it
    advances the public’s best interests.137
    Ipse dixit, however, is not proof of anything—one way or the other—and is no substitute for
    500 years of precedent.138 If it were, the same open-records decisions the dissent relies on would
    “prove[]” and debunk the dissent’s own “parade of horribles” by demonstrating that even under the
    Attorney General’s restrictive construction of the statutory standard, governmental bodies continued
    to engage the PIA’s oversight process after missing the statutory deadline.139
    As a final rejoinder, we address the dissent’s refrain that we are substituting our judgment,
    our preferences, and our rules for the Legislature’s. When we endeavor to ascertain the meaning of
    an undefined statutory term that is integral to a statutory inquiry, we are not overstepping the bounds
    of our authority merely because our colleagues disagree with our analysis or conclusions. “[T]o
    admit that disagreements do and will always exist over hard and fine questions of law doesn’t mean
    those disagreements are the products of personal will or politics rather than the products of diligent
    and honest efforts by all involved to make sense of the legal materials at hand.”140 But if that
    criticism were fairly lodged in any direction, it would be toward those who, in the guise of
    137
    See supra, nn.81-88, 116.
    138
    8 J O H N H. W IG M O RE , E VID EN CE § 2290 (McNaughton rev. 1961) (“The history of [the attorney-client]
    privilege goes back to the reign of Elizabeth I, where the privilege already appears as unquestioned.” (citing Berd v.
    Lovelace, Cary 88, 21 Eng. Rep. 33 (Ch. 1577))).
    139
    See, e.g., post at 2-3 (B O Y D , J., dissenting) (“Under the Court’s holding, establishing the exception will
    always constitute a compelling reason . . . . obliterat[ing] the sole method by which the Act compels the government to
    timely and properly assert the attorney-client privilege.”).
    140
    Hon. Neil M. Gorsuch, Law’s Irony, 37 H ARV . J. L. & P U B . P O L ’Y 743, 752-53 (2014).
    37
    interpreting a statute, invent a standard that imposes limitations that are more restrictive than the
    plain language allows while simultaneously denouncing a party’s construction of the statute on the
    very same basis.141 By substituting inflammatory rhetoric for analysis, the dissent confirms the adage
    that, when neither the law nor the facts are in your favor, pound the table.
    IV. Conclusion
    The PIA promotes and advances the public’s interest in governmental transparency and
    openness, but not at the expense of the public’s equally significant interest in ensuring public
    officials pursue and obtain legal advice and representation in affairs of governance. The significance
    of the interests protected by the attorney-client privilege and the need to protect attorney-client
    confidences from compelled public disclosure were not lost on the Legislature in enacting the PIA.
    The PIA addresses the competing values of transparency and the need for confidentiality by
    excepting confidential attorney-client communications from mandatory public disclosure. In doing
    so, the PIA recognizes the importance of the attorney-client privilege and affirms that the public
    interest is best served when those sworn to protect it are guided by fully informed legal advice in
    conducting public affairs.
    Though the PIA must be construed liberally in favor of granting a request for public
    information, the “compelling reason” inquiry requires us to weigh the public’s interest in expeditious
    assertion of a statutory exception against the invaluable right to have attorney-client communications
    protected from compelled public disclosure. Meeting statutory deadlines is certainly important, but
    141
    Post at 1-3, 6-8.
    38
    as the PIA plainly articulates, is not determinative. Weighing against the need for prompt action is
    the irremediable consequence of compelling disclosure; once privileged information is disclosed,
    confidentiality is lost for all times and all purposes. When the interests are balanced, the compelling
    nature of the attorney-client privilege is manifest. Because there is a compelling reason to withhold
    information covered by the attorney-client privilege, we affirm the lower-court judgments holding
    the City of Dallas need not disclose that information to the requestors.
    ___________________________
    Eva M. Guzman
    Justice
    OPINION DELIVERED: February 3, 2017
    39
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 15-0073

Filed Date: 2/3/2017

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 2/6/2017

Authorities (26)

United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation , 131 S. Ct. 2313 ( 2011 )

Upjohn Co. v. United States , 101 S. Ct. 677 ( 1981 )

debbie-foltz-consumer-action-united-policyholders-texas-watch , 331 F.3d 1122 ( 2003 )

in-re-the-county-of-erie-adam-pritchard-edward-robinson-and-julenne , 473 F.3d 413 ( 2007 )

Mead Data Central, Inc. v. United States Department of the ... , 566 F.2d 242 ( 1977 )

Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga , 435 F.3d 110 ( 2006 )

Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União Do Vegetal , 126 S. Ct. 1211 ( 2006 )

Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 98,860 Athalie Doris Joy v. Nelson L. ... , 692 F.2d 880 ( 1982 )

In Re the Knoxville News-Sentinel Company, Inc., (83-5095). ... , 723 F.2d 470 ( 1983 )

Trammel v. United States , 100 S. Ct. 906 ( 1980 )

In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum Dated September 15, ... , 731 F.2d 1032 ( 1984 )

Baxter International, Incorporated v. Abbott Laboratories , 297 F.3d 544 ( 2002 )

Herlancer Ross v. City of Memphis, Walter Crews and Alfred ... , 423 F.3d 596 ( 2005 )

bankr-l-rep-p-77588-48-fed-r-evid-serv-524-97-cal-daily-op , 132 F.3d 504 ( 1997 )

Hunt v. Blackburn , 9 S. Ct. 125 ( 1888 )

kenneth-kamakana-united-states-of-america-intervenor-appellant-gannett , 447 F.3d 1172 ( 2006 )

Grutter v. Bollinger , 123 S. Ct. 2325 ( 2003 )

National Organization for Marriage v. McKee , 649 F.3d 34 ( 2011 )

In Re Bruce R. Lindsey (Grand Jury Testimony) , 158 F.3d 1263 ( 1998 )

United States v. Edwin Edwards Stephen Edwards Cecil Brown ... , 303 F.3d 606 ( 2002 )

View All Authorities »