Landmark Decisions: United States v. Nixon (1974)

A brief rundown of the landmark Supreme Court decision that checked executive power.

Hello Readers,

In light of recent events, we felt it was relevant to release an article about an instance where executive power was checked by the Judicial Branch for the benefit of the people.

To this end, we have decided to cover United States v. Nixon (1974), the landmark Supreme Court decision that limited the power of the president and reaffirmed the principle that no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States [1,2,3].

This principle has most recently been addressed in Donald Trump v. United States of America (2024), in which the Justices ruled that the President has “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority, at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts, and no immunity for unofficial acts” [4]. We will cover this case next week.

But for now, let’s talk about Nixon.

Former President Richard Nixon

Case Background: The Watergate Scandal

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