Supreme Court Case: US V. Nixon

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The Supreme Court case, United States v. Nixon, was during the Watergate Scandal where it

was discovered that Nixon had installed a tape-recording device in the Oval Office. There was a

special prosecutor who was in charge of the case who wanted access to the tapes to prove that

President Nixon and his aides had abused their power and broken the law. Nixon refused to comply

with the demands of the prosecutor so the case was taken up to the Supreme Court to be decided as to

whether Nixon could override this demand. The plaintiff was the special prosecutor who was in charge

of the Watergate scandal assigned by Nixon himself, and the defendant was President Nixon. The first

argument of the defendant, Nixon, was that the court should not …show more content…
The court ruled unanimously against Nixon so

there are no dissenting views of the Supreme Court. The court did mention there would be occasions

when the president’s interests would override the court’s interests when it involved “military, diplomatic,

or sensitive nationalsecurity issues”. This court case was very important because once the videos were

released, it was found that Nixon and his aides had tried to cover up the actual Watergate scandal

involving the high ranking government officials who were the burglars in this crime. This led to the

resignation of Nixon. It also limited the president in his executive privilege saying the president was

subject to the law.

I completely agree with the Court’s decision about the decision to make President Nixon

uncover the tapes. The president does have privileges but these are not absolute; the president must

abide by the law. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction

thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state they reside.” (Amendment XIV, Section 1).

This does not exclude the president of the United States as he is a citizen too. “No Person except

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