This video is sponsored in part by Blinkist Washington, D.C.
June 17, 1972 Five men break into the Democratic National
Committee headquarters in the Watergate Office Building. They tried to set up a wiretap and photograph
confidential Democratic Party documents. However, the police caught them in the act
and arrested them. Little did most know, these men were connected
with the Committee for the Re-Election of the President, or CRP, or CREEP (hee hee),
the organization directly tied to President Richard Nixon in order to help him get re-elected. Flash forward to May 1973, and thanks to multiple
ongoing investigations, now more and more Americans are thinking the Nixon administration
was directly linked to the Watergate break-in. The U.S. Senate Watergate Committee began
public hearings, and the Nixon administration appointed Archibald Cox to lead a separate,
independent investigation. Flash forward again to July 1973, and Americans
found out that there is a new system in the White House that automatically records everything
in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room. In other words, if Nixon was in on the Watergate
break-in or even if he just knew about it and was trying to cover it up, there could
be evidence of it in the recordings. Cox, as well as the Senate, immediately subpoenaed
the White House recordings, or required that they be submitted to court as evidence. However, Nixon refused to release them, citing
his “executive privilege” as the president. He even ordered Cox to drop his subpoena,
and after Cox refused, Nixon had him fired. Not a good look there, Nixon. But the investigations only picked up. In what eventually became known as The Watergate
Scandal, a total of 69 people were indicted and 48 people convicted for either participating
in, aiding in, or covering up information about the Watergate break-in. MANY of these folks were top Nixon administration
officials. By early 1974, it seemed pretty clear that
President Nixon had at least known about the Watergate break-in and tried to cover it up. However, there was little solid evidence,
and Nixon had still refused to give up the recordings. On March 1, 1974, a grand jury, or special
jury selected to see if an accusation was valid or not, indicted SEVEN former aides
of Nixon, who later simply became known as the “Watergate Seven.” Nixon could feel the walls closing in on him. In April, the dude who took Cox’s place
to investigate the Watergate break-in, Leon Jaworski, had another subpoena, but this one
just ordered Nixon to release certain tapes and papers. Well, Nixon could feel the heat, but still
didn’t want to release the recordings. Instead, he turned over edited transcripts
of some of the conversations. After Nixon’s lawyer, James St. Clair, asked
Judge John Sirica of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reverse the
subpoena, Judge Sirica said: “The President wants me to argue that he
is as powerful a monarch as Louis XIV (14th), only four years at a time, and is not subject
to the processes of any court in the land except the court of impeachment.” Oh snap there, Judge. So uh yeah. Sirica denied the motion and ordered Nixon
turn over the tapes by May 31st. In response, Nixon and Jaworski appealed directly
to the Supreme Court, who heard oral arguments on July 8th. Justice William Rehnquist, who had close connections
with several of the Watergate conspirators, decided to recuse himself from the case, or
excuse himself since he might be too biased. Again, Nixon argued he had “executive privilege,”
which apparently I forgot to define earlier in this video. Uh, “executive privilege” just means that
a President can withhold information from the public IF it’s in the public’s best
interest. Whatever that means, amirite? Anyway, Nixon said executive privilege gave
him the power to withhold the tapes. He also argued that the whole matter shouldn’t
even be dealt with in the courts since it was a dispute WITHIN the executive branch. Besides, even if the judicial branch WAS to
chime in, it should respect the need for executive confidentiality, man. So the main thing the Court first had to figure
out was whether or not they had the authority to determine if a President was ok to use
executive privilege in certain circumstances. And they determined that they DID. On July 24, 1974, the Court announced they
had sided against Nixon. It was unanimous. The Court said that a claim of executive privilege
by the President in this case was unconstitutional. Therefore, Nixon had to deliver the subpoenaed
recordings ASAP. While the Court acknowledged that executive
privilege did exist…it was a legit thing in certain areas of military or diplomatic
affairs, the Court could also step in if they thought the executive privilege violated the
“fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of justice.” In other words, if executive privilege was
preventing the courts from doing their jobs, then it could be overridden. United States v. Nixon was a landmark case
that solidified the idea that no one, not even the President, is above the law. It was the first case in which the Supreme
Court ruled that executive privilege exists, but it said that it is a QUALIFIED privilege
as opposed to an ABSOLUTE one. In the case with Nixon’s secret recordings,
it was in the public interest to have them released, and in the end, most people just
came to realize that Nixon wanted them secret not to protect the country, but only to protect
himself. In fact, just 16 days after the decision,
Nixon became the first and only President in American history to resign. I’ll see you for the next Supreme Court
case, jury! This video is sponsored in part by Blinkist. I’ve been using Blinkist for more than a
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your free seven day trial and get 25% off of a Premium membership. So what are YOUR thoughts on executive privilege? Should the President ever be above the law? Which Supreme Court case should I cover for
this series next? Ok that’s enough questions. What am I? A lawyer? I’d like to hear from you.
