Kavanaugh, Nixon and the Death of Rational Discourse
The landmark case that sealed Richard Nixon’s fate gave legal scholars plenty to chew on, but at least the debate was open and civil.
Let the mind work.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
United States v. Nixon is rearing its hoary head once more. That’s the 1974 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ordering President Richard Nixon to turn over tapes and other materials to special prosecutor Leon Jaworski — the decision that led, in just over a month, to Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal. Right now, some are trying to hang the case around the neck of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the court. Kavanaugh, his opponents say, thinks the decision was wrongly decided.
The claim, based on years-old off-the-cuff remarks, seems awfully thin. Although it’s been reported as fact that Kavanaugh questioned the result in United States v. Nixon, a cleaner reading of what Kavanaugh said seems the other way. Even Kavanaugh’s more sophisticated critics concede that he seems to think the case is rightly decided.