United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc.

Volume 1 of

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, No. 05-10067 v.  D.C. No.

COMPREHENSIVE DRUG TESTING, MISC-04-234-SI

INC.,

Defendant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Susan Illston, District Judge, Presiding

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYERS 

ASSOCIATION,

Petitioner-Appellee, No. 05-15006 v.  D.C. No.

CV-04-00707-JCM

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Respondent-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Nevada James Mahan, District Judge, Presiding

19783 19784 UNITED STATES v. COMPREHENSIVE DRUG TESTING

IN RE: SEARCH WARRANTS EXECUTED 

ON APRIL 8, 2004 AT CDT, INC.,

No. 05-55354

SEAL 1,

Plaintiff-Appellant,  D.C. No.

CV-04-02887-FMC

v.

OPINION

SEAL 2,

Defendant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Florence-Marie Cooper, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted November 15, 2005—San Francisco, California

Filed December 27,…

We must decide whether the United States may retain evidence it seized from Major League Baseball’s drug testing administrator (and enforce an additional subpoena) as part of an ongoing grand jury investigation into illegal steroid use by professional athletes.

I

These three consolidated cases arise from the federal investigation of the Bay Area Lab Cooperative (“Baleo”) and its alleged distribution of illegal steroids to professional baseball athletes. The investigation began in August 2002 and, over *920 the following several years, produced evidence — including grand jury testimony' — • establishing probable cause to believe that at least ten major league baseball players received illegal steroids from Baleo. Today we decide the government’s appeals from the separate adverse orders of three different district courts: (1) an order by Judge Florence-Marie Cooper in the Central District of California, requiring the government to return property seized from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc. in Long Beach, California (“CDT”), 1 (2) an order by Judge James Mahan in the District of Nevada, requiring the government to return property seized from Quest Diagnostics, Inc. in Las Vegas,…

concurring in part and dissenting in part.

One of the three extremely able district court judges who rejected the government’s argument summarized it best, stating: “What happened to the Fourth Amendment? Was it repealed somehow?”

Although it only had a search warrant for data concerning eleven Major League Baseball players, the government seized thousands of medical records and test results involving every single Major League Baseball player. The government did not stop there, seizing thousands of other medical records for individuals in thirteen other major sports organizations, three unaffiliated business entities, and three sports competitions. The government now seeks to retain all of the medical information it obtained about persons who were not the subject of any criminal inquiry.

The stakes in this case are high. The government claims the right to search— without warrant or even a suspicion of criminal activity — any patient’s confidential medical record contained in a computer directory so long as it has a legitimate warrant or subpoena for any other individual patient’s record that may be contained as part of data stored on the same computer. The government attempts…