Section 14.4 Federal Privilege

• Library: Evidence 2017

IV. (§14.4) Federal Privilege

Privileges arise solely from state interpretation of the state’s own common law, its own statutes, and the United States Constitution. In civil cases, there are no “federal evidentiary privileges.” But in federal criminal cases, the federal law of privilege applies. United States v. Simmons, 964 F.2d 763, 768 (8^th Cir. 1992); see Fed. R. Evid. 501:

The common law—as interpreted by United States courts in the light of reason and experience—governs a claim of privilege unless...