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88 Tex. L. Rev. 301 (2009-2010)
Former Presidents and Executive Privilege

handle is hein.journals/tlr88 and id is 305 raw text is: Former Presidents and Executive Privilege Laurent Sacharoff The Constitution provides former Presidents with no powers or role, and yet numerous former presidents including Truman and Nixon have asserted executive privilege in order to withhold information from Congress, historians, and the public. The most recent former President, George W. Bush, is likely to make similar assertions based upon his sweeping view of the rights of former Presidents as reflected in his recently revoked Executive Order 13,233, potentially leading to a constitutional collision between the rights of former Presidents and those of Congress. This Article argues that, notwithstanding Nixon v. Administrator of General Services (GSA), former Presidents should retain no right to assert executive privilege based upon the text, structure, and historical context of the Constitution and its antimonarchical premises, as well as the nature of executive privilege when compared to other privileges. I. Introduction ......................................................................................... 302 II. Existing Scholarship and Case Law .................................................... 307 A . Existing Scholarship ....................................................................... 307 B. Key Case Law on Executive Privilege and the Congress ............... 313 C. Conclusion: Former Presidents Occupy a Constitutional B orderland ...................................................................................... 3 14 III. Former Presidents: The Privilege and the Constitution ...................... 317 A. Nixon v. Administrator of General Services (GSA) ........................ 317 B. The Text, Structure, and Historical Context of the Constitution .... 320 1. The Text of the Constitution ........................................................ 321 2. The Historical Context: A Rejection of Monarchy ..................... 323 3. The Powers of the Incumbent President ..................................... 328 4. D eep Secrets and Abuse .............................................................. 330 C. The Presidential Privilege Compared to Attorney-Client Privilege and Other Privileges and Immunities ............................... 332 1. Attorney-Client Privilege ........................................................... 332 2. Presidential Im m unity ................................................................. 338 3. The Speech or Debate Clause ..................................................... 339 4. The Executive Privilege and the Corporate Attorney-Client P rivileg e ...................................................................................... 340 IV. Can W e Trust the New President? ...................................................... 345 * Abraham L. Freedman Graduate Fellow, Temple University Beasley School of Law; J.D., Columbia Law School; A.B., Princeton University. The author wishes to thank Trevor Morrison, Craig Green, Richard Greenstein, Jane Barron, Todd Brown, and Melynda Barnhart.

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