Word: sirica
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...President had his own day in court. Special Counsel James St. Clair squared off against Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski before the Supreme Court in three hours of historic arguments about presidential privilege. At issue was whether the President must turn over 64 more White House tapes to Judge John Sirica for use as evidence in the trial of seven other Nixon aides (see cover story next page). It was not known just how damaging to the President's cause the withheld tapes might be. But Nixon, tempted to turn them over to avoid a confrontation with the courts, made...
...rare occasions, of course, the Supreme Court has mocked prognosticates with a ruling contrary to all expert expectation. In the subpoena case, it was conceivable ?barely? that the Justices could deadlock at 4 to 4. Legally, that would leave the original Sirica order in force, but politically it would be a kind of victory for Nixon. Another option was to return the case to Sirica on some...
...case called The United States of America v. Richard Nixon raises an ostensibly simple question: Does Federal Judge John Sirica have the right to review 64 still-secret White House tape recordings for possible use in the Watergate trial of six former Nixon aides? In fact, the issue on which the U.S. Supreme Court begins final deliberations this week is far more complex and far reaching. The ultimate ruling-and how Nixon responds to it-may vitally affect the impeachment proceedings and conceivably could alter the constitutional relationship between the Judicial and Executive branches of government...
Despite the masses of evidence already on the public record, the 64 tapes are widely believed to hold answers to some of the Watergate mysteries still unresolved. That is why Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski subpoenaed the material -and perhaps why the President refused to comply with Sirica's order to produce it for judicial inspection. The White House tried to take the case to the Circuit Court of Appeals, which would have meant still more delay. Jaworski persuaded the Supreme Court to take the case directly...
That perception changed gradually through the winter, and the major turning point came on March 23, 1973, when James McCord's letter to Judge Sirica was made public. The McCord letter, among other things, confirmed that pressure had been brought to bear on the original defendants to keep silent. It was the most concrete evidence up to that point that a cover-up had been attempted. Newsday might have broken some of the same information months earlier because it had access to another of the burglars, Frank Sturgis. Recalls Publisher William Attwood: "He was ready to talk...