ABSTRACT
In Clinton v. Jones, 520 US 731, the US Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether a president had any immunity for his nonofficial acts. Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for a unanimous Court, rejected the president's claim of temporary immunity from the civil suit. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, concurring, argued that the Court had unwisely dismissed Nixon v. Fitzgerald as dictum and thereby minimized the potential impact civil litigation could have on the president's time and energy. The Court had also undervalued separation of powers by relying on a district court to make the accommodations necessary to avoid disrupting the president's performance of his duties, including a stay of litigation. In sum, the Court in Clinton v. Jones denied the president the right to temporary immunity that would permit him to delay a trial for civil damages until after he left office.
