United States v. Miller

In United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435, in connection with an investigation, a federal agency issued grand jury subpoenas to presidents of banks where Miller kept accounts, requiring the production of all records of accounts in the name of Miller. This was done so without notice to Miller. The bank presidents complied with the demands and made the documents available to the agents. At trial, Miller challenged the subpoena and moved to suppress the evidence arguing the bank documents were illegally seized. The Supreme Court held that documents subpoenaed from a bank, consisting of records of depositor's account, were business records of the bank, and not "private papers" of the bank depositor, who could thus assert neither ownership nor possession on a claim of illegal seizure. The Court went on to say "This Court has held repeatedly that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the obtaining of information revealed to a third party and conveyed by him to Government authorities... Since no Fourth Amendment interests of the depositor are implicated here, this case is governed by the general rule that the issuance of a subpoena to a third party to obtain the records of that party does not violate the rights of a defendant, even if a criminal prosecution is contemplated at the time of the subpoena is issued." ( United States v. Miller, supra, 443-444.)