Charles Ruff: The Privacy Defense
Privacy was a big issue during the impeachment proceedings and the overall sex scandal. It was introduced as an issue by the House Managers who wanted to discuss how moral and appropriate the actions of the president and Monica Lewinsky were. The defense then used the same topic to argue that he should not be impeached. This was because, as the defense planned to show, a president should not be impeached for something that occurred during his private life. This is mainly based on the fact that impeachment, as defined, applies to the president and his role regarding the state and safety of the country.
Privacy was introduced by the House Managers but widely used by the defense team. The defense focused on this so completely because private matters do not fit into the actions of high crimes and misdemeanors, which is required to impeach the president. The main purpose behind focusing on privacy was to show that matters in a personal life to not reach the level of impeachable regardless how immoral they were. The main goal, therefore was to prevent the impeachment of the president.
Privacy is also an issue that Charles Ruff seems to live by. He is one of the most powerful attorneys in the country, and was a prosecutor of Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. However, it is very difficult to find a lot of information about him personally, or about his career. Typically it seems that there is more information available about someone with a powerful position such as Ruff, than others with less powerful opinions.
When it comes to the issue of privacy and the impeachment, there are a few questions that come to mind. In the past, the private life of a president was not reported in the media. What has changed since then making it acceptable for the media to report on Clinton’s private life with such detail? What were some of the turning points? When it comes to the impeachment proceedings, are personal issues a reason to impeach a president? Why is it that Ruff never defends the president or denies Clinton’s activities? Isn’t that how a defense attorney usually proceeds? How does the issue of privacy fit into Ruff’s own life?
Clinton is not the first sitting president to have a mistress or an affair. Multiple others have as well, but the media never broke the story to the public.
Executive privilege has been around since Washington’s first term in office as the first official president of the United States. During Washington’s presidency he set the stage for the use of executive privilege that will evolve over time into something far greater than its initial purpose. Clinton and Nixon utilized executive privilege in a greater sense than Washington, and later Jefferson. They used executive privilege to cover up their wrongdoings and illegal activities. The outcome of the Nixon trial led to the official acknowledgment of executive privilege as a power allotted to the president and other executive officials, but it also noted that the power of executive privilege does not override the need of key information in a criminal investigation.
Having studied George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', I intend to discuss the type of Government envisaged by Orwell and to what extent his totalitarian Party, 'Ingsoc', satirises past regimes. I will also discuss Orwell's motive in writing such a piece and how his writing style helps it become clear.The main theme of Nineteen Eighty-Four concerns the restrictions imposed on individual freedom by a totalitarian regime. Orwell shows how such a system can impose its will on the people through manipulation of the press, the elimination of democracy, constant supervision (courtesy of the Telescreens) and more. Orwell also shows how the state has more subtle methods for imposing its authority, such as the manipulation of language and control of the media.
was Burger, and he reaffirmed that “it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” The Supreme Court is the superior symbol of the U.S. law, so it has duties to protect the justice t...
Out of all of the current presidents in our time the most interesting president to explore was President Richard Nixon and out of all of them he was the only one in term to resign. That Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment to be executed to the fullest extent of their nature. His poor choices and decisions led to his resignation. Although he did have some good qualities in helping the U.S. the bad however override the good. In the CRS (Congressional Research Service) It states: “ Obstruction of justice is the impediment of governmental activities. There are a host of federal criminal laws that prohibit obstructions of justice. The six most general outlaw obstruction of judicial proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1503), witness tampering (18 U.S.C. 1512), witness retaliation (18 U.S.C. 1513), obstruction of Congressional or administrative proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1505), conspiracy to defraud The United States (18 U.S.C. 371), and contempt (a creature of statute, rule and common law). Simple perjury in a federal investigation or judicial proceedings carries an extensive fine and up to 5 years in prison.” This was the first article president Richard M. Nixon was charged with by the House of Judiciary Committee. The vote was 27 to 1 for Nixon to be charged with the first article of impeachment, which was Obstruction of Justice. In denial of his liability in part taking in the Watergate scandal by saying he wasn't involved in the scandal He pointed finger at others that were involved in the break-in. However, tapes were found of conversations that proved his involvement and he was going to be impeached. Before he was charged, he made a resignat...
In 1972, Nixon and his aides hired people to break into the Watergate, a hotel where Democratic election plans and budgets were stored. Nixon’s plan was to steal the campaign plans and counter them, getting the winning results. When all of this information came out, a special prosecutor working on the case asked for the tapes recording calls in the Oval Office as a part of the investigation. Nixon didn’t want to hear it, so he fired the first special prosecutor. The next one assigned to the case also wanted the tapes. Nixon finally gave up edited versions of the tapes, but the D.C. Appellate Court of Appeals wanted the full tapes, but Nixon wouldn’t let it happen. It finally was taken to the Supreme Court where Chief Justice Warren E. Burger had the task of proving Nixon guilty. But Nixon claimed he had Executive Privilege, which states that he does not have to give up confidential information involving his branch as it could be sensitive to his branch only, due to checks and balances. Nixon was eventually convicted, because of his two operations. Operation Sandwedge, and Operation Gemstone. Operation Sandwedge was essentially collecting sensitive information on the other presidential candidate that would harm his chances of being elected, and taint him in the eyes of the public. Operation Gemstone was actually the action of breaking into the hotel and stealing the information.
...vil rights and losing protection. Protection is more important but unnecessary spying should not be tolerated. “The sad truth is that most Americans have already lost the battle when it comes to keeping personal information absolutely private.”( Lee, M.Dilascio, Tracey M.4).
Despite the national attention the Watergate scandal had gained President Nixon, he won the second term presidency. The major problem for Nixon would come later. The investigations of the Watergate scandal lead to the discovery of other criminal acts by officials including Nixon. During the investigation many things begin to surface. It was discovered that documents had been destroyed that may have made a link between Nixon and the Watergate scandal. These documents may have shown that he had some acknowledgement in what had happened. There was evidence that people involved in the Nixon campaign had been wire tapping phones illegally for a long time according to “dummies.com”. The greatest issue would come to light during the 1973 Watergate hearings. During testimonies it came to light that every conversation was recorded in the Oval office according to “study.com”. It was demanded that these tapes be reviewed to learn how much involvement President Nixon had in the Watergate burglary. The President felt that he had the right to withhold these tapes through what he referred to as executive privilege. This means that if it is the best interest of the public the president has the right to keep information from the
Privacy is a flame that is not dying out. Americans enjoy the claim that they have the right to privacy; and before the Griswold decision, this was not an explicit right. While the original decision related to a marital right to privacy, it extends further.
Romeo and Juliet is widely known to be a tragedy, but what caused the atrocity for which it is so renowned? Some may argue fate was to blame for Romeo’s and Juliet’s deaths, that the situations these young lovers faced were depicted as being out of their control. Could Romeo have refused to attend the Capulet masque? Was Romeo destined to duel the raging Tybalt? Did Romeo and Juliet truly have to kill themselves? If one considers the specific circumstances and causes of these situations, the fact that all scenarios are the result of choice rather than chance, and the notion that the characters were never left without options, only one conclusion can be determined. It was unarguably the decisions made by characters, not those made by fate, that were responsible for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet.
Only three times in the 226 year history of the office of the President of the United States has the idea of impeachment reared its head. Only twice has a president been impeached, and only one president has been driven out of office due to possible high crimes and misdemeanors. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton both were impeached by the House of Representatives, and faced trial in the Senate. Both presidents were acquitted of their supposed transgressions, and were allowed to remain in office. Richard Nixon, despite never experiencing impeachment, vacated his office due to increasing pressure to resign and spare the Senate from going through the process due to his obvious guilt. Nixon was actually in violation of his duties as President, but Clinton and Johnson were impeached by political rivals. Nixon’s actions were considered in such grave violation of the Constitution, that he did not keep his office, whereas Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton stayed.
... punish those responsible for the attacks and to protect against any similar attacks” (Doyle, The USA PATRIOT Act: A Legal Analysis, page 2). Sense the new laws were out into effect, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding it. Several questions have been posed as to whether or not the Act was giving too much power to government law enforcement. With the law now leaving room for open investigations, spying, and even wiretapping, people are wondering if things have been taken too far. Interest groups fighting to protect our civil liberties are arguing that we have passed the point of keeping our country safe from outside terrorism, but are now compromising our basic civil rights as Americans, and as humans for that matter. Although many revisions have been proposed, the USA Patriot Act still stands, and continues to raise question to the governments authority.
There are currently 11.7 million immigrants living in the U.S. The United States is now again being named the land of immigrants. The new century has been introduced to the illegal immigrant. They are desperate to get into the American culture and are forced to disobey the laws of government to assimilate themselves in America. People come over because they have family, jobs or want a better life. This may cause some problems for Americans. Certain Americans believe immigration will cause the economy to drop, drop to wages, and job loss due to cheap labor, etc. But no one has thought of a solution for immigration that will work effectively.
There are estimates anywhere from 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States to 30 million. Illegal immigrants create a disproportionate amount of crime in this country. For example, “illegal immigrants make up about seven percent of Arizona’s general population, but they account for fifteen percent of the states prison population”. A good fourteen percent of the illegal inmates housed in prisons are convicted on dangerous charges such as manslaughter, murder, and drug offenses. In Los Angeles, California 95% of outstanding homicide warrants, and two thirds of felony warrants are issued towards illegal immigrants!
Since the founding of the United States, our outlook on the way it treats its citizens has not changed very tremendously. Apart from the abolishment of slavery, and various other corrupt practices which were fixed, well for the most part. The concept of birthrights and unalienable rights is not very farfetched, yet our government continuously attempts to impede these rights in an attempt that should not be tested. The right to privacy is a very serious concern and could be taken more heavily especially if it involves the safety of an individual or that of a nation, is no big difference, but the government should not go to the point of impeding our rights or freedoms to acquire these measures.
Historical/practical rights are one of the biggest issues and it all started back in colonial America. In colonial America, privacy was constrained. Colonial homes were often crowded, affording little privacy. There have been many events about privacy since 1639. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution was written declaring it does not contain an express right of privacy, in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, the Constitution mandates that a census be conducted every ten years. Critics of the census regard it as a threat to privacy (Right of Privacy Time).