Word: sirica
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...tactics, for Nixon to cooperate in principle?and then delay actual delivery of the tapes as long as possible. St. Clair seemed to suggest that possibility when he said that it might take two months for the 64 tapes to be submitted for screening by Federal Judge John J. Sirica if Sirica's original order to produce the tapes is sustained by the Supreme Court. Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski is now thinking in terms of a few days...
...Chief Justice on his interpretation of legal precedents. He urged the court not to shy away from a decision that might have profound political implications nor to shun its duty to decide a basic constitutional issue. He asked the Justices to "fully, explicitly, decisively?and definitively?uphold Judge Sirica's decision...
...seeking this evidence, the political furor that followed forced the President to drop his planned appeal to the Supreme Court. Instead he yielded to an appeals court ruling that he surrender the first group of recordings. At that time Nixon's constitutional consultant, Charles Alan Wright, assured Judge Sirica, "This President does not defy the law. He will comply in full with the orders of this court." To Wright's embarrassment, two of the nine subpoenaed tapes then turned out to be "non-existent" and a third contained the celebrated 18½-minute buzz-filled erasure...
...before the court. The Justices, operating on the longstanding presumption of acquiescence to their rulings, were properly more interested in the fundamental legal issues. They showed their interest by barraging the three attorneys with nearly 350 questions. Since the heaviest burden rested on St. Clair to prove the Sirica order invalid, the most provocative questions were aimed at the President's lawyer. In the process, St. Clair sometimes seemed trapped in the illogic of his position. His major claims...
...Clair argued that Jaworski has not demonstrated a need for the subpoenaed conversations sufficient to overrule the President's presumed privilege. Procedural rules place a burden upon Jaworski to specify his reason for wanting each tape; he did so in a 49-page memo to Judge Sirica. Lacovara contended that since Sirica had found the explanations satisfactory, the Justices could only involve themselves in the question if they believed Sirica had abused his discretion. "This Prosecutor [Jaworski] has a plethora of information," countered St. Clair. "He says he wants to try the case with all the evidence. Nobody tries...