Washington- Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday rejected an attempt by the South Carolina Parks Department to block a Google subpoena issued in a multistate antitrust lawsuit filed against the tech giant.
The subpoena dispute stems from a federal lawsuit filed by several states against Google, alleging violations of federal and state antitrust laws through its online display advertising business. As part of the discovery process, Google issued a subpoena to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism for its proprietary online advertising record.
The department refused to comply with the subpoena and sought to quash it, arguing that it is protected by 11th Amendment immunity from suit in federal court. Two other South Carolina agencies complied with Google’s subpoenas.
A district court rejected the Parks Department’s effort to invalidate the subpoena, finding that the state, through its attorney general, waived immunity when it voluntarily joined in the federal lawsuit against Google.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit affirmed the lower court’s order, agreeing that the attorney general waived any immunity enjoyed by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
“When the State waived its immunity by voluntarily joining the lawsuit against Google, it ‘nullified’ any immunity defense that any of its branches, including the SCPRT, might otherwise have asserted,” the unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit wrote in its decision.
The parks department appealed to the Supreme Court and, in addition to asking it to review the 4th Circuit’s ruling, asked the justices to stay the order requiring it to comply with the subpoena.
Parks Department lawyers have warned that if the department is forced to respond, it would either have to comply with Google’s subpoena and waive its right to appeal, because the issue could become moot, or face trial for contempt of court.
“The decision below inappropriately encroaches on each state’s prerogative to run its own government and disregards fundamental principles of federalism,” they wrote.
Google urged the Supreme Court to reject South Carolina’s request for emergency relief, arguing that stopping the parks department’s compliance with the subpoena would harm the tech company’s interests in the lawsuit underlying antitrust.
A trial in the case is scheduled for March 2025, and a set of motions is expected on November 18. Google’s lawyers said the subpoena to the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism required the production of “highly relevant” documents to its defense, including information about the agency’s use of advertising products Google display and its evaluation of these products.
“The rule that SCPRT asks this court to adopt would be a recipe for manipulation and abuse,” Google’s lawyers argued. “This would allow a state to waive its own immunity in bringing an action against a defendant, while nonetheless insulating state agencies from any obligation to comply with the discovery the defendant requires to mount his defense.”
