US Vs Nixon

Background The election for 1972 was approaching quickly and the republicans were interested to find out that the Democratic party’s strategy was. They hired 5 “plumbers” to sneak into the Democratic party’s national headquarters to wire and bug the watergate building. The plumbers were fixed with bugs and were all prepared to tap the building. The first run was a successful wire and tap, however when they got back to the White House, the recording devices were defective and unsuccessful. Nixon had no idea what happened and when he found out, he was trying to cover up the scandal. While Nixon was in office, had installed a recording system that recorded all the conversations that he had in the oval office. Some people argued that the evidence was on the recorded tapes that Nixon had. The case started off in the the US district court on August 29, 1973, the decision was that Nixon had to turn over the tapes. Nixon releases edited versions of the tapes of a few of the tapes. The case goes back to the US district court and they decide again that he has to turn over unedited versions of all of the tapes. Nixon then appeals and the case makes it’s way to the Supreme Court!

Points of Law The United States argued that argued that executive privilege was not an absolute one and that the use of executive privilege in this matter was insufficient. Nixon was arguing that the 5th amendment was in violation under the phrase “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property . . . without due process of law.” He was also holding executive privilege against the courts sating that he didn't have to release the tapes. This falls under article II. which describes the powers of the president. This case involved amendment #5 and the article II of the Constitution.

Decision and reasoning of the Court (majority opinion)
The supreme court had an unanimous rule of 8-0 in favor of the United States. This meant that Nixon had to turn over the tapes from his office