And Then There Were Eight.

WilliamRehnquistWasNo

RaySchalkVille


From Charlie Savage's piece in yesterday's New York Times:

On the surface, a judge’s ruling on Tuesday night that Congress can obtain Trump White House files related to the Jan. 6 riot seemed to echo another high-profile ruling in November 2019. In the earlier matter, a judge said a former White House counsel must testify about then-President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation...

{snip}

...The case, which raises novel issues about the scope of executive privilege when asserted by a former president, is not over: Mr. Trump is asking an appeals court to overturn Judge Chutkan’s ruling and, in the interim, to block the National Archives from giving Congress the first set of files on Friday. The litigation appears destined to reach the Supreme Court, which Mr. Trump reshaped with three appointments...

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Back in 1974 the Warren Burger-led Supremes voted unanimously, 8-0, that Richard Nixon had to give up the Watergate tapes.

From the Wikiplex:

United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that resulted in a unanimous decision against President Richard Nixon, ordering him to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials to a federal district court. Issued on July 24, 1974, the decision was important to the late stages of the Watergate scandal, when there was an ongoing impeachment process against Richard Nixon. United States v. Nixon is considered a crucial precedent limiting the power of any U.S. president to claim executive privilege...

Of course, the current U.S. Supreme court of John Roberts is very different than the one from 47 years ago, what with three of the members having been appointed by Donald Trump.

But here's the thing.

Back in the day Mr. Burger himself, as well as two other members of his court who also voted against Nixon, Harry Blackmum and Lewis Powell, were appointed by...

You got it - Richard Milhous Nixon. 

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And why only eight and not nine in 1974?....Well, the ninth member of the court, William Rehnquist, recused himself because he had served as an Assistant Attorney General under Nixon...

From the doubly historical subheader...Ray Schalk was the Chicago White Sox catcher who was most definitely not part of the 'Eight Men Out' who were a part of the scheme to fix the World Series back in 1919.

Update Thurs pm....As you might have predicted given past performance, Mr. Trump is attempting to play out the clock.

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