The survey this year focuses on significant decisions in the area of privilege and expert opinion. In United States v. Smith, the court explicitly rejected a journalist's First Amendment privilege for non-confidential ...

The Fifth Circuit's decisions in the area of Evidence dealt with a variety of familiar topics, such as the discretionary power of the trial judge to exclude relevant evidence because of the countervailing considerations ...

Among the cases decided during the survey period (1996-1997), two opinions stand out as particularly noteworthy. First, United States v. Branch is certainly notable because it involved the prosecution of members of a ...

During the survey period, the Fifth Circuit addressed several issues of increasing importance in the area of securities law. First, the court limited the circumstances under which a federal court may exercise subject matter ...