⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The D.C. Circuit considers a defense request for records held by the Pretrial Services Agency. Kenneth Sanders is defending a criminal case in the District of Columbia's local trial court. He wants medical and toxicology records about the complaining witness, whom the argument describes as the only eyewitness. The request concerns the witness's records, not Sanders's own supervision files. A trial judge authorized a subpoena requiring the agency to produce records for the defense. The agency instead took the subpoena proceeding to federal court, where a district judge set the subpoena aside on sovereign-immunity grounds. Sovereign immunity generally limits a court's power to compel the federal government without its consent. The defense lawyer will argue that the government cannot start a criminal prosecution and then use immunity to avoid the ordinary evidence rules governing that prosecution. The agency will answer that bringing a criminal prosecution does not waive federal immunity from a local court's subpoena. It will point to other procedures for requesting records; the defense disputes whether those are an adequate substitute. Listen for the difference between the prosecutor's disclosure duties and the power to enforce this particular subpoena against a federal agency. This dispute is not a determination of what the private records prove, or whether Sanders is guilty.

Subpoena Issued to Pretrial Services Agency (No. 25-5194) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, argued November 5, 2026.