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executive privilege
executive privilege. Executive Privilege is not an unlimited right to refuse. It extends only to those topics or areas which are critical for the President to retain privacy in order to accomplish his role as Executive. As such, it was possible for Congress to compel Bill Clinton to testify regarding the Whitewater affair.
The rule of law over executive privilege.
United States v. Nixon
What reason did the president give for justifying his claim of executive privilege
The Supreme Court case that upheld the American ideal of rule of law and limited government power by denying the idea of executive privilege is United States v. Nixon (1974). In this case, the Court ruled that executive privilege could not be used to withhold evidence in a criminal trial, emphasizing that no individual, including the President, is above the law and the principle of separation of powers.
Executive privilege is the legal doctrine that allows the President or other high-ranking government officials to withhold information from Congress or the courts in order to protect the confidentiality of certain conversations or documents. It is based on the separation of powers principle and is derived from the President's inherent authority to conduct the business of the executive branch. Executive privilege is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, but has been recognized by the courts as part of the President's constitutional powers.
The president cannot use executive privilege in order to withhold evidence from a criminal trial.
The president cannot use executive privilege in order to withhold evidence from a criminal trial.
United States v. Nixon was the case that questioned executive privilege. The case was decided on July 24, 1974. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously against Nixon.
Nixon sought to invoke "executive privilege". Executive privilege isthe power claimed by thePresident of the United Statesand other members of theexecutive branchto resist certainsubpoenasand other interventions by thelegislativeandjudicial branchesof government. The concept of executive privilege is not mentioned explicitly in theUnited States Constitution, but theSupreme Court of the United Statesruled it to be an element of theseparation of powersdoctrine, and/or derived from the supremacy of executive branch in its own area of Constitutional activity TheSupreme Courtconfirmed the legitimacy of this doctrine inUnited States v. Nixon, but only to the extent of confirming that there is a qualified privilege. Once invoked, a presumption of privilege is established, requiring the Prosecutor to make a "sufficient showing" that the "Presidential material" is "essential to the justice of the case."(418 U.S. at 713-14).Chief JusticeBurgerfurther stated that executive privilege would most effectively apply when the oversight of the executive would impair that branch's national security concerns. In the case of Watergate, national security was NOT the issue at hand.
United States v. Nixon, 418 US 683 (1974)President Nixon asserted the doctrine of Executive Privilege gave him immunity from being subpoenaed to produce his secret tapes of conversations regarding the Watergate cover-up.Executive Privilege is an implied constitutional right of the President to withhold information from the other branches of government (Article II). According to Nixon, the conversations were intra-branch, protected by the Separation of Powers, and non-justiciable (not amenable to resolution by a court) because the court lacked jurisdiction over the communications.For more information, see Related Questions, below.