The Supreme Court’s ruling was key to causing President Richard M. Nixon to resign from office.
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
A break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic Party at the Watergate hotel, shown beyond the roof of the Howard Johnson restaurant, led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon
In response to questions regarding the burglary of the Democratic Party National Headquarters in the Watergate
Included among the tapes was a conversation so damning that it has been called the “smoking gun” that led to Nixon’s resignation just three weeks later. In his opinion, Burger emphasized that the Court must be deferential to the presidency, but this ruling, by concluding that executive privilege was conditional, nonetheless limited the previous presumption that executive privilege was absolute.
Butz v. Economou
Executive immunity
Executive privilege
Marbury v. Madison
Nixon, Richard M.
Presidential powers