The President, Congress, and the Courts
The Yale Law Journal Volume 83, Number 6, May 1974 The President, Congress, and the Courts Raoul Bergert I. Subpoenaing the President: Jefferson v. Marshall in the Burr Case We do not think that the President is exalted above legal process .. .and if the President possesses information of any nature which might tend to serve the cause of Aaron Burr, a subpoena should issue to him, notwithstanding his elevated station. Alexander McRae, of counsel for President Jefferson' Chief Justice Marshall's rulings on President Jefferson's claim of right to withhold information in the trial of Aaron Burr have been a source of perennial debate. Eminent writers have drawn demon- strably erroneous deductions from the record. For example, Edward t Charles Warren Senior Fellow in American Legal History, Harvard University Law School. 1. 1 T. CARPENTER, THE TRIAL OF COLONEL AARON BURR 75 (1807). McRae's co-counsel, William Wirt, who served as Attorney General of the United States for twelve consecu- tive years, stated that "if the production of this letter would not compromit [sic] the safety of the United States, and it can be proved to be material to Mr. Burr, he has a right to demand it. Nay, in such a case, I will admit his right to summon the President ... ."Id. at 82. His associate, George Hay, the United States Attorney, stated, I never had the idea of clothing the President . with those attributes of di- vinity. That high officer is but a man; he is but a citizen; and, if he knows anything in any case, civil or criminal, which might affect the life, liberty or property of his fellow-citizens .
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