6.3 Who May Assert the Privilege

• Library: Defending Criminal Cases in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2018 Ed.)

6.3 WHO MAY ASSERT THE PRIVILEGE

The privilege against self-incrimination is available only to human beings ²² and may not be asserted by entities such as corporations and partnerships. ²³ The privilege is personal in that it may be asserted only by the person compelled to provide testimonial evidence. In Fisher v. United States, ²⁴ attorneys had asserted the privilege in order to avoid compliance with IRS summonses seeking accountants' work papers given to the attorneys by their clients. The Court held that the attorneys could not claim a Fifth Amendment privilege because the summonses "would not 'compel' the taxpayer to do anything, and certainly would not compel him to be a 'witness' against himself," and the lawyers themselves were not faced with self-incrimination. Consequently, an attorney may not...