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United States v. McDade

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19254 (1992)

Facts

Congressman Joseph McDade (defendant) was federally charged with conspiracy, racketeering, and accepting illegal gratuities. About 100 days before trial, McDade contested that the prosecution (plaintiff) had disclosed so many documents that discovery filled three rooms of filing cabinets in Philadelphia, New York, and Virginia offices. Discovery also included 2,400 hours of tape-recorded conversations. McDade claimed that the defense team had hired 12 people to help review the discovery. For perspective, each member of the 12-person discovery team would need to spend 20 10-hour days listening to tapes for the defense to pass through the tape-recorded conversations just once. McDade claimed that the avalanche of discovery had rendered the defense incapable of distilling what would be relevant to the trial. The prosecution replied that this far ahead of trial, McDade had no right to know which documents the government would use at trial; that information was attorney work product, and a list of witnesses and exhibits would effectively be a blueprint of the prosecution’s trial strategy.

Rule of Law

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Issue

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Holding and Reasoning (Gawthrop, J.)

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A "yes" or "no" answer to the question framed in the issue section;
A summary of the majority or plurality opinion, using the CREAC method; and
The procedural disposition (e.g., reversed and remanded, affirmed, etc.).

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