John J. Sirica's 23-page decision that the President must surrender his tapes relied heavily on legal and political precedentson the theory of the Constitution, the trial of Aaron Burr and President Truman's unsuccessful attempt to take over the steel industry. In threading his way through this maze, Sirica carefully took up and rejected virtually all the arguments that the White House lawyers had presented. His verdict, though phrased with the density of legal language, is a historic document. Excerpts:
The court has found it necessary to adjudicate but two questions for the present:...