The purpose of today’s column is to examine what exceptions there are to the federal grand jury secrecy rules, and how grand jury transcripts may be obtained by practitioners for use in litigation in civil or criminal cases.

Recently the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia authorized the disclosure to the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, certain grand testimony from the grand jury investigation conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller. As discussed below, the subject matter of the release of grand jury transcripts goes well beyond the use in proceedings for the impeachment of the president.