As a judicial precedent, the more important significance of this case is that even if the president's administrative privilege really exists, it is not allowed to go beyond the law and refuse to hand over the evidence needed by the court.
Watergate incident: the "theft" incident of the exposed hotel
1972 June 17, the eve of the US presidential election. Five people were found and arrested by the police when they tried to secretly enter the office of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel in Washington. It was obvious at the scene that the five men tried to install a bug and stole the documents of the Democratic Party's campaign plan. Because all five of them had cash and documents related to Nixon's campaign, they contacted Nixon's campaign Committee. What is even more surprising is that among these five people, there are White House aides and Nixon's re-election Committee security adjutant.
It is an obvious fact before Congress and the public that senior government officials, including Nixon himself, participated in the planning of this case.
Watergate prosecution: investigation against the president begins
On March 1974 and 1, the federal grand jury sued the Minister of Justice for conspiracy to obstruct justice, and six others were accused as accomplices. They were all senior White House officials of the Nixon administration or senior officials of the re-election committee, and Nixon, then president, was an accomplice who was not prosecuted.
Special Prosecutor Leon Joorsky led the investigation. 1On April 8, 974, he issued a subpoena through the US district judge, ordering Nixon to submit "some tapes, memos, documents, copies and other written materials". The documents should be handed in on May 2nd 1974, and the court session will be held on September 9th 1974.
Fighting: Nixon refused to subpoena
1On April 30th, 974, Nixon handed in the revised conversation record on page 13. /kloc-in may, lawyer Nixon asked the court to cancel the subpoena. Nixon expected that the published copy of the document would satisfy the court and the public, so he didn't want to submit it.
The court rejected this application on May 20th, 1974. He ordered the president or his employees to hand over their documents to the court before 1974 May 3 1.
On May 20th, Nixon's lawyer appealed to the local court.
Both sides understand that whether the court forces the president to obey subpoenas and other forms of judicial decisions will ultimately be decided by the Federal Supreme Court. It is more clear that this case involves government interests and political interests, and both sides hope to make a quick decision. Almost at the same time, the two sides filed an application to the Supreme Court, asking the Supreme Court to hear the case directly.
On June 5th, 1974, the Federal Supreme Court approved the application, and the case was directly heard by the Supreme Court.
Dilemma: Hand over the recorded evidence?
1On July 24th, 974, the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon should hand over these tapes in the White House office.
The main question facing the court is whether the president refuses to obey the legal decision by virtue of "administrative privilege". For Nixon, he has stepped on the cliff of political life, and obeying the law to provide evidence will immediately tear off the still hazy veil of whether the president is involved in this political theft; Using the president's "administrative privilege" not to execute the court's judgment is even more distrustful of the president's words and deeds as a representative of the country. Nixon was in a dilemma.
Resign: Nixon ended his political career.
It is easy to order the president to do one thing, but it is another to carry out this order. In the end, the execution of the court's judgment will depend on the public's recognition of the democratic system.
When Nixon heard the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, he made a public statement that he would obey the legal decision: Although I was naturally disappointed with the result, I respected and accepted the court's decision, and I have informed my lawyer to take measures according to all the requirements of the decision.
Nixon submitted more than 60 hours of White House tapes to the court, some of which contained serious criminal conversations between Nixon and his assistants shortly after Watergate.
1On August 8, 974, Nixon announced his resignation. On August 9, the resignation took effect. Vice President Ford announced his inauguration at noon that day.
The newly appointed Ford used the presidential power to pardon Nixon, so that Nixon was not tried later.
Campaign shady: an open secret
Watergate incident is by no means isolated, let alone sudden. It's just an event that people "accidentally" discovered in many political confrontations under the background of multi-party competition. The media contributed a lot to this.