United States v. United States District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, California, John Z. Delorean, Real-Party-In-Interest

The United States petitions us for a Writ of Mandamus, to be directed to a district court in a criminal proceeding. The petition challenges trial court orders which require the Government to comply with the defendant’s request for production and disclosure of documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 . We have jurisdiction in this proceeding under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651 . We conclude the trial court erred in ordering compliance with the FOIA and determine that the Writ should issue.

John Z. DeLorean, the defendant in the district court and the real-party-in-interest in the mandate proceeding here, faces trial on an indictment charging violations of federal statutes pertaining to narcotics and controlled substances. In the pleadings and arguments, we are advised that DeLorean has extensive international business and manufacturing interests. It can be assumed for our purposes that various agencies of the United States maintain documents pertaining to DeLorean, to his business affairs, and to the investigation of the criminal charges against him.

In December 1982 and January 1983, DeLorean filed FOIA requests with agencies of the United…