United States v. Nixon

De: The Supreme Court of the United States

Narrado por: uncredited

A grand jury returned indictments against seven of President Richard Nixon's closest aides in the Watergate affair. The special prosecutor appointed by Nixon and the defendants sought audio tapes of conversations recorded by Nixon in the Oval Office. Nixon asserted that he was immune from the subpoena claiming "executive privilege," which is the right to withhold information from other government branches to preserve confidential communications within the executive branch or to secure the national interest. Decided together with Nixon v. United States.

Public Domain (P)2014 Oyez, Inc

History rhymes?

A sitting Republican President, being investigated by a Special Counsel (back then, "Special Prosecutor."). A series of firings of figures in White House inner circles. Angry denunciations of leaks and leakers. A President standing on the sanctity of confidential Presidential communications and prerogatives. Passing on these big historical moments and forks in the road, are judges of historical stature, in live conversation. What's not to like?
This audiobook will appeal (pun!) to lawyers and deep legal fans. It is quite technical, weaving in and out of very high concepts in US law alongside lots of procedural nuts and bolts. But this is the big league, and nowhere is the grand and the particular tied together in such elegant and stimulating fashion. Laypeople with less than a strong interest may find themselves dozing.
Richard Nixon provided the ideal protagonist for this drama -- as a cunning, cagey lawyer at every turn, a brilliant and flawed man, with a personality of immense complexity (though he appears here only through counsel, so his visage floats behind it all). And we have the TAPES, partly due to this decision! In some weird way, I miss that crafty son of a gun. The guy now might have parallels to Nixon's self-destructiveness, and glaring (not to say crass casino-neon-lit) flaws, but nothing like Nixon's craft.