"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."
Regarding Nixon's use of executive privilege.
Executive privilege - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The privilege that allows the president and other high officials of the executive branch to keep certain communications private if disclosing those communications would disrupt the functions or decisionmaking processes of the executive branch. As demonstrated by the Watergate hearings, this privilege does not extend to information germane to a criminal investigation.
executive privilege - legal definition
It's going to be an interesting standoff. My guess is that Bush's supreme court won't let him down.. again. But we'll see. Clinton and Nixon found out that EP is no blank check.
I DO, however, find it extremely hilarious that, given that EP is no where in the Constitution, conservatives who usually hop on the "strict Constitutionalist" bandwagon with any other issue will defend the practice like a pro-choicer defending RvW privacy.
Anyone wanna take bets on how Scalia rules despite the usual rhetoric?
