Word: sirica
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...Sirica did not agree. In an opinion praised by some legal scholars as unexpectedly erudite, he wrote that he was "extremely reluctant...
...finally stand against a declaration of the President of the United States on any but the strongest possible evidence." Nonetheless, he would have to examine the tapes himself in order to determine whether the President's case for not yielding them was valid. "In all candor," Sirica said, "the court fails to perceive any reason for suspending the power of courts to get evidence and rule on questions of privilege in criminal matters simply because it is the President of the United States who holds the evidence." Asked Sirica rhetorically: "What distinctive quality of the presidency permits its incumbent...
...Sirica had the satisfaction of seeing his opinion essentially upheld by the Circuit Court of Appeals, which observed: "Though the President is elected by nationwide ballot and is often said to represent all the people, he does not embody the nation's sovereignty. He is not above the law's commands...
...subpoenaed tapes and would allow Senator John Stennis of Mississippi to listen to the tapes to see if the summary was accurate. There was no reason for Prosecutor Cox to accept that unilateral arrangement, since he had a far better chance of getting the tapes themselves under Sirica's order. So Cox objected?and was fired by Nixon. Declared Cox after he was ousted: "Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people to decide...
...clamor of public protest that followed the Cox dismissal and the virtually simultaneous resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus shocked the White House. At first Counselor Wright, on the following Tuesday, Oct. 23, was prepared to argue before Sirica that the Stennis compromise met the thrust of the Court of Appeals' suggestion that an out-of-court solution to the tapes impasse be found. But clearly it did not meet Sirica's order to produce the tapes. Although Sirica will not say what he intended to do about it, he does admit that...