Understand the Claim of Executive Privilege in the Jan. 6. Inquiry

[marble falls]

Understand the Claim of Executive Privilege in the Jan. 6. Inquiry

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/politics/trump-jan-6-documents.html


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2. What is Trump’s claim? Former President Trump has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the disclosure of White House files related to his actions and communications surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He argues that these matters must remain a secret as a matter of executive privilege.

3. Is Trump’s privilege claim valid? We probably won’t know for a long time, if ever. The constitutional line between a president’s secrecy powers and Congress’s investigative authority is hazy. Historically, such disputes have usually been resolved through compromise, not judicial rulings.

4. Is executive privilege an absolute power? No. Even a legitimate claim of executive privilege may not always prevail in court. During the Watergate scandal in 1974, the Supreme Court upheld an order requiring President Richard M. Nixon to turn over his Oval Office tapes.

5. May ex-presidents invoke executive privilege? Yes, but courts may view their claims with less deference than those of current presidents. In 1977, the Supreme Court said Nixon could make a claim of executive privilege even though he was out of office, though the court ultimately ruled against him in the case.

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[PoliticAverse]

1. Trump is unlikely to win his claim but the main point is to delay.

If he can delay things through the courts til next November and the Republican's recapture the House, the issue goes away.

[marble falls]

4. Absolutely. 45 presented problems that were cover by concepts and rules that have ...

... have never been really tested until to some degree Nixon pushed on them. Nixon lost but as a nation we've seemed less interested about gelling the rules, concepts and 'traditions' into law.

[malaise]

2. Get thee to the greatest page

Lock him up!

[malaise]

3. Get thee to the greatest page

Lock him up!