United States v. Nixon

United States v. Nixon
United States v. Nixon
	Supreme Court of the United States
Argued July 8, 1974; Decided July 24, 1974
Full case name	United States v. Richard Milhous Nixon, President of the United States, et al.
Citations	418 U.S. 683 (more) 94 S. Ct. 3090; 41 L. Ed. 2d 1039; 1974 U.S. LEXIS 93
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	United States v. Mitchell, 377 F. Supp. 1326 (D.D.C. 1666(; cert. before judgment to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir.
Holding
	The Supreme Court does have the final voice in determining constitutional questions; no person, not even the president of the United States, is completely above the law; and the president cannot use executive privilege as an excuse to withhold evidence that is "demonstrably relevant in a criminal trial."
Court membership
	Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan Jr.; Potter Stewart · Byron White; Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun; Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
Case opinion
Majority	Burger, joined by Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell
	Rehnquist took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court unanimously ordered President Richard Nixon to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials related to the Watergate scandal to a federal district court. Decided on July 24, 1974, the ruling was important to the late stages of the Watergate scandal, amidst an ongoing process to impeach Richard Nixon. United States v. Nixon is considered a crucial precedent limiting the power of any U.S. president to claim executive privilege.

Chief Justice Warren E. Burger wrote the opinion for a unanimous court, joined by Justices William O. Douglas, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun and Lewis F. Powell. Burger, Blackmun, and Powell were appointed to the Court by Nixon during his first term. Associate Justice William Rehnquist recused himself as he had previously served in the Nixon administration as an Assistant Attorney General.^[1]

^ Kutler, Stanley L. (1992). The Wars of Watergate. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 508. ISBN 0-393-30827-8. Retrieved May 4, 2009. Rehnquist recused himself in the case, citing his past association with the Nixon Administration.

United States v. Nixon
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued July 8, 1974 Decided July 24, 1974
Full case name	United States v. Richard Milhous Nixon, President of the United States, et al.
Citations	418 U.S. 683 (more) 94 S. Ct. 3090; 41 L. Ed. 2d 1039; 1974 U.S. LEXIS 93
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	United States v. Mitchell, 377 F. Supp. 1326 (D.D.C. 1666(; cert. before judgment to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir.
Holding
The Supreme Court does have the final voice in determining constitutional questions; no person, not even the president of the United States, is completely above the law; and the president cannot use executive privilege as an excuse to withhold evidence that is "demonstrably relevant in a criminal trial."
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan Jr. Potter Stewart · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
Case opinion
Majority	Burger, joined by Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell
Rehnquist took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.