Prosecutors Snooping on Legal Mail

[Commentary] Anyone who has ever consulted a lawyer knows that private communications seeking legal advice are confidential. The attorney-client privilege is the oldest, broadest and most important of all privileges in the American legal system. But for people sitting behind bars while awaiting trial or appealing a conviction, the attorney-client privilege stops abruptly at the e-mail login screen. Government lawyers argue that because inmates knowingly consent to the inspection of all email messages, they waive the attorney-client privilege. If the Justice Department refuses to change its policy, which undermines the constitutional right to counsel, other judges should follow her lead and disallow this unprincipled practice. The government’s defense boils down to, we do it because prisoners are at our mercy. But it is a violation of prosecutors’ duty to seek justice, and not to twist the rules when they can get away with it.