ABSTRACT
This litigation presents for review the denial of a motion, filed in the District Court on behalf of the President of the United States, in the case of United States v Mitchell to quash a third-party subpoena duces tecum issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The subpoena directed the President to produce certain tape recordings and documents relating to his conversations with aides and advisers. In the performance of assigned constitutional duties each branch of the Government must initially interpret the Constitution, and the interpretation of its powers by any branch is due great respect from the others. The President's counsel reads the Constitution as providing an absolute privilege of confidentiality for all Presidential communications. The privilege is fundamental to the operation of government and inextricably rooted in the separation of powers under the Constitution. But the presumptive privilege must be considered in light of our historic commitment to the rule of law.
