Analysis Of The Video Lecture On America 's Legal History

This testimony led to the fight for the tape recordings from the House Judiciary Committee, the House believed that these could help uncover his role in the Watergate Scandal. The public was having an increase in suspicion of Nixon because of his vigorous effort to defend the tapes. After the Supreme Court’s rejection of Nixon's executive privilege, there were over 700 white house files, 19 presidential conversations, and over 42 additional tapes taken, but the biggest suspicion was the eighteen and a half minute silent gap in a conversation with Mr.Haldeman in 1972. Nixon later in court lies about the $25,000 check given to Bernard Barker, saying that he is probably a “bum” and definitely did not receive the money from CREEP, even though the check was directly traceable to the committee. On May 10, 1989 the House of Representatives adopted 3 Articles of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, with the first two articles charging Nixon with giving false testimony before the grand jury and the third article with bringing disrepute on the Federal judiciary. These charges placed on the highest position in American society is disastrous and leads to a distrust in government within the American people.The fact that Nixon was granted a full pardon and was acquitted of all of the charges makes Americans lose hope in the American Judicial System and makes people question the “role of the

In United States v Nixon, five burglars broke into the Democratic Party headquarters. After investigations, president Nixon received a subpoena ordering him to release tapes and transcripts connected to meetings between him and some individuals who had been indicted in the incident. Although the president released edited copies of the transcripts, his attorney filed a motion to quash the subpoena on grounds of executive privilege. The attorneys claim was that the judiciary lacked the powers to determine the president’s claim of executive privilege. It was held that no individual, not even the president is above the law and, therefore, the president cannot use executive privilege to withhold criminal evidence. The problem of separation of powers in this case arises from the president’s attorney that the concept of executive privilege stems from the doctrine of separation of powers and the independence of the executive insulates the president from judicial proceedings. Although the constitution provides for the separation of powers, these powers are not intended to operate independently and the assumption that the president is immune to judicial proceedings would affect the constitutional balance and impair the functionality of the judiciary. It is noteworthy that the offenses that led to the resignation of Nixon were relatively minor and the crisis was constitutional.

On April 29 1974 Richard Nixon announced in a national broadcast he will hand over 1,200 pages of White House Transcripts that will ‘‘prove his innocence’’. This all began on June 17, 1972, when several burglars in the DNC (Democratic National Committee). It seems that the burglars were connected to Nixon’s reelection, they were caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Apparently, Nixon tried to vigorously cover up the crime.

Five burglars, discovered to be connected with the campaign to re-elect Nixon, were caught breaking into the Democratic National Head Quarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. The Democratic National Headquarters were responsible for raising money and for coordinating campaigns for democratic candidates. During the hearing of these burglars, it came to the attention of the court, that Nixon installed tape recorders in the oval office and refused to give them up. After the court forced him to hand over the evidence, he released edited transcripts that didn’t meet the courts orders. Nixon’s lawyers argued that through ‘executive privilege’, “the ability of the president to keep certain communications private if disclosing those communications

Nixon attempted to take the case through the districts courts who rejected privilege, Nixon then decided to appeal. Taking the case to the appellate courts that also denied suit as non-justiciable political question; the Supreme Court granted certiorari. However, the court decided that the previous court’s ruling was affirmed. (The Oyez Project, United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974)

Richard Nixon's first term as president will always be connected with the Watergate scandal, the biggest political scandal in United States history. Various illegal activities were conducted including burglary, wire tapping, violations of campaign financing laws, sabotage, and attempted use of government agencies to harm political opponents to help Richard Nixon win reelection in the 1972 presidential elections. There were about 40 people charged with crimes related to the scandal. Most of them were convicted by juries or pleaded guilty. Watergate involved more high-level government officials than any previous scandal. It has been etched in the minds of millions and is still being recalled today when faced with the present day scandal of

Despite the Supreme Court’s memo reminding everyone that the United States Government continues to operate under a separation of power, only 22 years passed before another President was brought before the Court due to overextending his presidential authority: Tricky Dicky. At the center of United States v. Nixon (926-937) was the now-infamous Watergate scandal. Leon Jaworski, the special prosecutor in charge of investigating a prior break-in at Democratic headquarters, obtained a subpoena ordering former President Richard Nixon to release audio tape recordings and documents believed to contain evidence connecting several of Nixon’s closest aids – and possibly Nixon himself – to the break-in. Nixon’s attorney argued that the situation should

Facts: A special prosecutor, who was in direct contact to the President recorded and taped conversations between the President and his officers discussing a break-in and ended up publishing that confidential information. The President does not want to state anything further to the situation because making a statement towards this case would hurt his authority as President. He is alleging executive privilege and doesn’t want to provide the court with the recorded tapes. As well, to show his proof of innocence, the President is using Article II of the Constitution to justify the privilege that comes with Article II and how it is related

That same year, Congress would tap into its oversight powers once again as it launched a full-fledged investigation against Nixon and top White House officials who used their political positions for political advantage in the Watergate scandal. Citing “executive privilege,” Nixon asserted that he, as president, was immune from legislative oversight and that "the inherent power of the President to safeguard the security of the nation" authorized him to order wiretaps without warrants.

For this project I am going to discuss two different articles about President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. The first article is “The Washington Post Editorial Watergate: The unfinished business.” The other article that I will be discussing and comparing is one written by Dean Burch. “In Defense of Richard Nixon.” I will provide a brief summary of the two arguments as well as describe how the Watergate events changed American views in politics and politicians. I will also speculate how the events could have been different if the media and population during the Watergate scandal had today’s technology, an example being smart phones,

Article II, Section IV of the United States Constitution states that: “The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Throughout the course of American history, past Presidents have committed actions that have brought up the discussion and even started the process of impeachment from holding office. In the chapter “Impeachment in the Constitutional Order” by Jeffery K. Tulis, he talks about the differences between the legalistic and political interpretations of impeachment and how to properly use the process in a successful manner. Tulis states “how and why the impeachment process, far from politically irrelevant, is a vital attribute of the theoretical architecture of a well- functioning separation of powers regime” (Tulis 229).

compromises both the act of formulating the accusation and the resulting trial of charges; it is

Richard Nixon's presidency is one of the most examined, analyzed and discussed, yet least understood, of all the American administrations in history. While many factors still remain to be discovered, and many mysteries are left to be resolved, we need to do the best that we can to make sense of this secretive president of our past and his era. He is the one American figure about whom very few people don't have strong feelings for. Nixon is loved and hated, honored and mocked . The term 'Watergate', labeled by Congress in 1974, stands for not only the burglary, but also for the numerous instances of officially sanctioned criminal activity and abuses of power as well as the obstruction of justice that preceded the actual break-in.

Watergate Scandal has been considered as one of the darkest chapters in American history. The event not only refers to unethical use of power by the public representatives but also levied great deal of attention on the mechanism of surveillance over the activities of public servants. Watergate scandal provides ethical directions not only to public servants but also provides ethical guidelines to the lawyers and media representatives as well. This incident reveals how ethical lines were crossed time and again by the politicians, legal attorneys and media for their own purposes. Ignoring the righteousness of the outcomes, events like these cause severe damage to the public's trust vested in these authorities which takes a long time to restore.

investigation by Congress, Nixon was committing illegal acts other than that of burglary. It was