US_V_Nixon

US V Nixon United States vs. Nixon 418 U.S. 683 (1974) During the night of June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, DC. Investigation into the break-in exposed a trail of abuses that led to the highest levels of the Nixon administration and ultimately to the President himself. The grand jury issued a subpoena for audiotapes that were recorded of Nixon and his staff discussing the break-in. The tapes were damaging to Nixon and his administration and he refused to give them up. Nixon claimed that it was his “executive privilege” to withhold information from other government branches if that information was damaging to national security or the presidency. Nixon versus the United States was argued on July 8, 1974 and was decided on July 24, 1974. In the case, only eight of the nine justices voted in the trial. All but William Rehnquist (who did not vote) voted in the majority that the president did not have a special privilege to withhold information if he sees fit to do so. The general opinion of the court was nixon, president, court, information, withhold, united, states, case, 1974, vs, tapes, privilege, break-in, voted, presidency, opinion, national, law, justices, july, government, give, executive, damaging, branches, administration, within, william, watergate, washington, vote, versus, ultimately, trial, trail