United States v. Nixon

The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case United States vs. Richard Milhous Nixon, President of the United States, et al. (usually cited as United States v. Nixon ) from 1974 is a landmark decision on the limits of the powers of the President of the United States in relation to the other branches and the national information order.

Background

During the Watergate scandal, U.S. President Nixon was the special prosecutor and later was invited by Congress to the White House tapes recorded in the issue, which could have contributed to the elucidation of the affair. However, Nixon refused to hand over the tapes, and instead offered to copies of some of the recordings. The judge of the competent District Court for Washington DC however, insisted on the release of the tapes, and the dispute eventually came before the Supreme Court of the United States.

The decision of the Supreme Court

The Court ultimately had to decide whether the legislature or the judiciary have the right to demand that the President of the United States and thus the executive such release, or whether this - would constitute a violation of the separation of powers principle - like Nixon argued.

In its unanimous decision given by the Court first made it clear that he has the competence to determine the extent the Constitution of the United States limiting the president's powers, and that the Constitution provides that laws and to the president can be enforced. In relation to the executive power of the President, he noted that in any event, then zukäme no priority when it came to publishing demonstrably relevant evidence in criminal proceedings. The tapes were therefore to be issued.