Questionable Marriage Doesn’t Remove Communications Privilege

The government can’t use private marital communications to prove that the marriage was entered into for the purpose of immigration fraud, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held Aug. 8.

The communications privilege made inadmissible at trial communications that were secretly recorded by the wife after she agreed to cooperate with investigators, the court said in an opinion by Judge Morgan Christen.

It protects confidential communications between spouses so long as the marriage was not irreconcilable when the communications were made.

The court recognizes an exception to a different privilege, the spousal testimonial privilege, for situations where ...