§2000aa–11 Guidelines for Federal Officers and Employees

Summary

The Attorney General must, within six months of October 13, 1980, create rules for how federal officers and employees may get private papers when the person holding them is not a suspect or closely related to a suspect and the papers are not contraband or the product or tools of a crime. The rules must protect the person's privacy, require using the least intrusive way to get the papers, show special care when papers would invade a known confidential relationship (for example, clergy‑parishioner, lawyer‑client, or doctor‑patient), and require a government attorney to approve a warrant application except in an emergency (when another supervisor may approve if the United States Attorney is told within 24 hours). The Attorney General must also collect information and report every year to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees about the use of such search warrants when they would affect those confidential relationships.