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42 McGeorge L. Rev. 343 (2010-2011)
Watergate, Judge Sirica, and the Rule of Law

handle is hein.journals/mcglr42 and id is 348 raw text is: Watergate, Judge Sirica, and the Rule of Law

Anthony J. Gaughan*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.  INTRODUCTION               ............................................. ..... 343
II. THE CRIME                                 ...................................................... 346
A. The Watergate Break-In           ......................................... 346
B. The Judge              ........................................    ...... 351
III. THE JUDGE AS INVESTIGATOR                          ...................................... 354
A. The Scope of the Prosecution's Case .......................... 354
B. Sentencing                                  .................... ....................  367
IV. THE AFTERMATH               ...........................................  ...... 376
A. The Wall of Silence Breaks..           .................................. 376
B. The Court of Appeals' Review of Sirica's Handling of the Trial .......... 379
C. The Sentencing Issue       .........................        ................ 382
V. CONCLUSION                                  .................................................... 387
A. The Burglars' Fate       ........................          .................. 387
B. The Trial's Legacy            .......................................... 389
I. INTRODUCTION
During his 2005 nomination hearing before the United States Senate, Chief
Justice John Roberts declared, Judges are like umpires . . . . The role of an
umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules, but
it is a limited role.' Not all Supreme Court Justices have agreed with Roberts. In
Johnson v. United States, Felix Frankfurter insisted, Federal judges are not
referees at prize-fights but functionaries of justice.'
Although the umpire analogy has broad appeal, the reality is that many
judges assume a role that goes far beyond that of a referee. The great tides and
currents which engulf the rest of men, do not turn aside in their course, and pass
the judges by[,] Benjamin Cardozo famously observed.' Judges, Cardozo
* Attorney, Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.; J.D., Harvard Law School, 2005; Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-
Madison, 2002.
1. Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of John G. Roberts, Jr. to be Chief Justice of the United
States: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on the Judiciary, 109th Cong. 55 (2005), (statement of John G. Roberts,
Jr.).
2. 333 U.S. 46, 54 (1948) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting in part).
3. BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO, THE NATURE OF THE JUDICIAL PROCESS 168 (1921).

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