NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Executive privilege

Executive privilege is the power claimed by the President of the United States and other members of the executive branch to resist certain search warrants and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government. The concept of executive privilege is not mentioned in the United States Constitution, but some consider it to be an element of the separation of powers doctrine, and/or derived from the supremacy of executive branch in its own area of Constitutional activity.^[1] The presidential seal is a well-known symbol of the presidency. ... The executive is the branch of a government charged with implementing, or executing, the law and running the day-to-day affairs of the government or state. ... A search warrant is a written warrant issued by a judge or magistrate which authorizes the police to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a criminal offense. ... The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... Separation of powers is a political doctrine under which the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government are kept distinct, to prevent abuse of power. ...

Political theorists have argued that each branch of government may operate with some degree of freedom from the control or supervision of the others.^{[citation needed]} The Supreme Court confirmed the legitimacy of this doctrine in United States v. Nixon, but only to the extent of confirming that it can be invoked when the oversight of the executive would impair that branch's national security concerns. Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the... 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 law; and the president cannot use executive privilege as an excuse to withhold evidence that is demonstrably relevant in a criminal trial. ...

Historically, the uses of executive privilege underscore the untested nature of the doctrine, since Presidents have generally sidestepped open confrontations with the United States Congress and the courts over the issue by first asserting the privilege, then producing some of the documents requested on an assertedly voluntary basis. Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups (as of November 7, 2006 elections) Democratic Party Republican...

Washington sets precedent

In 1796, President George Washington refused to comply with a request by the House of Representatives for documents which were relating to the negotiation of the then-recently adopted Jay Treaty with England. The Senate alone plays a role in the ratification of treaties, Washington reasoned, and therefore the House had no legitimate claim to the material. Therefore, Washington provided the documents to the Senate but not the House. The Treaty The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain averted war, solved many issues left over from the Revolution, and opened ten years of peaceful trade in the midst of a large war. ...

Jefferson and the Burr trial

President Thomas Jefferson continued the precedent for this in the trial of Aaron Burr for treason in 1807. Burr asked the court to issue a subpoena duces tecum to compel Jefferson to provide his private letters concerning Burr. Chief Justice John Marshall, a strong proponent of the powers of the federal government but also a political opponent of Jefferson, ruled that the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, which allows for these sorts of court orders for criminal defendants, did not provide any exception for the president. As for Jefferson's claim that disclosure of the document would imperil public safety, Marshall held that the court, not the president, would be the judge of that. Jefferson complied with Marshall's order. This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... Traitor redirects here. ... Subpoena Duces Tecum (Latin for: bring with under penalty of punishment). ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas Politics Portal The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the judicial branch... John Marshall (September 24, 1755 â€“ July 6, 1835) was an American statesman and jurist who shaped American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a center of power. ... Amendment VI (the Sixth Amendment) of the United States Constitution codifies rights related to criminal prosecutions in federal courts. ...

Eisenhower and McCarthy

During the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower invoked executive privilege by refusing to turn over to Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigatory Committee the notes of Eisenhower's meetings with members of the United States Army, "claiming that matters of national security might be breached if administration officials were forced to testify under oath." However, this was merely a ruse to destroy Senator McCarthy since Eisenhower invoked executive privilege only just before McCarthy was preparing to defend himself against accusations during the hearings.^[2]^[3] Early in 1954, the U.S. Army accused Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (Republican, Wisconsin), and his chief counsel, Roy Cohn, of pressuring the Army to give favorable treatment to former McCarthy aide and friend of Cohns, G. David Schine. ... Dwight David Ike Eisenhower, born David Dwight Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 â€“ March 28, 1969) was an American General and politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953â€“1961). ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ... Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 â€“ May 2, 1957) was a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin between 1947 and 1957. ... The United States Army is the largest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ...

US v. Nixon

The Supreme Court addressed 'executive privilege' in United States v. Nixon, the 1974 case involving the demand by Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski that President Richard Nixon produce the audiotapes of conversations he and his colleagues had in the Oval Office of the White House in connection with criminal charges being brought against members of the Nixon Administration. Nixon invoked the privilege and refused to produce any records. 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 law; and the president cannot use executive privilege as an excuse to withhold evidence that is demonstrably relevant in a criminal trial. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Watergate building. ... A special prosecutor is a lawyer from outside the government appointed by the attorney general or Congress to investigate a federal official for misconduct while in office. ... Leon Jaworski (September 19, 1905 - December 9, 1982) was the Special Prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 â€“ April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... The Oval Office from above The Oval Office is the official office of the President of the United States. ... For other uses, see White House (disambiguation). ...

The Supreme Court did not reject the claim of privilege out of hand; it noted, in fact, "the valid need for protection of communications between high Government officials and those who advise and assist them in the performance of their manifold duties" and that "[h]uman experience teaches that those who expect public dissemination of their remarks may well temper candor with a concern for appearances and for their own interests to the detriment of the decisionmaking process." This is very similar to the logic that the Court had used in establishing an "executive immunity" defense for high office-holders charged with violating citizens' constitutional rights in the course of performing their duties.

The Supreme Court however rejected the notion that the President has an "absolute privilege." The Supreme Court stated: "To read the Article II powers of the President as providing an absolute privilege as against a subpoena essential to enforcement of criminal statutes on no more than a generalized claim of the public interest in confidentiality of nonmilitary and nondiplomatic discussions would upset the constitutional balance of 'a workable government' and gravely impair the role of the courts under Article III." Because Nixon had asserted only a generalized need for confidentiality, the Court held that the larger public interest in obtaining the truth in the context of a criminal prosecution took precedence. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Article Two of the United States Constitution Article Two of the United States Constitution creates the executive branch of the government, comprising the President and other executive officers. ... Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the federal government. ...

Clinton Administration

In 1998, President Bill Clinton became the first President since Nixon to assert executive privilege and lose in court, when a Federal judge ruled Clinton aides could be called to testify in the Lewinsky scandal.^[4] William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... The Monica Lewinsky scandal was a political-sex scandal emerging from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a then 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. ...

Later, Clinton exercised a form of negotiated executive privilege when he agreed to testify before the grand jury called by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr only after negotiating the terms under which he would appear. Declaring that "absolutely no one is above the law," independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr said such a privilege "must give way" and evidence "must be turned over" to prosecutors if it is relevant to an investigation. United States Office of the Independent Counsel was an independent prosecutor â€” distinct from the Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice â€” that provided reports to the Congress under Title 28 of the United States Code, Section 595. ... Kenneth Winston Starr Kenneth Winston Starr (born July 21, 1946) is an American lawyer and former judge who was appointed to the Office of the Independent Counsel to investigate the death of the deputy White House counsel Vince Foster and the Whitewater land transactions by President Bill Clinton. ...

George W. Bush Administration

President George W. Bush first asserted executive privilege to deny disclosure of sought details regarding former Attorney General Janet Reno, who served during President Bill Clinton's administration, in December 2001. [1] George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ...

Bush invoked executive privilege "in substance" in refusing to disclose the details of Vice President Dick Cheney's meetings with energy executives, which was not appealed by the GAO. In a separate Supreme Court decision in 2004, however, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted "Executive privilege is an extraordinary assertion of power 'not to be lightly invoked.' United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1, 7 (1953). Seal of the office of the Vice-President of the United States The Vice President of the United States is the first in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal of the President. ... Richard Bruce Dick Cheney (born January 30, 1941), is the 46th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President George W. Bush. ...

"Once executive privilege is asserted, coequal branches of the Government are set on a collision course. The Judiciary is forced into the difficult task of balancing the need for information in a judicial proceeding and the Executive’s Article II prerogatives. This inquiry places courts in the awkward position of evaluating the Executive’s claims of confidentiality and autonomy, and pushes to the fore difficult questions of separation of powers and checks and balances. These 'occasion[s] for constitutional confrontation between the two branches' are likely to be avoided whenever possible. United States v. Nixon, supra, at 692."^[5]

Further, on June 28, 2007, Bush invoked executive privilege in response to congressional subpoenas requesting documents from former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor,[2] citing that: Harriet Ellan Miers (born August 10, 1945 in Dallas, Texas) is an American lawyer, and former White House Counsel. ... Sara Marie Taylor (born September 15, 1974) was Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs at the White House, making her one of George W. Bushs top political aides. ...

On July 9, 2007, Bush again invoked executive privilege to block a congressional subpoena requiring the testimony of Sara M. Taylor and Harriet E. Miers. Further, White House counsel Fred Fielding refused to comply with a deadline set by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain its privilege claim, prove that the president personally invoked it, and provide logs of which documents were being withheld.

References

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Contents

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