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Day in Court. The still-unresolved question is how Nixon will be treated in that trial. He has been summoned as a defense witness by Ehrlichman, but could conceivably plead the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination in that role. His lawyers could argue that, while federal prosecution has been banned by the pardon, state prosecution is still possible. That is highly unlikely and such a Nixon plea would be shaky, since the trial questions need not delve into any Nixon activities other than the cover-up conspiracy. Nixon could also be summoned as a prosecution witness and be granted specific immunity against use of his testimony in other jurisdictions. As a prosecution witness, he could be asked questions going beyond topics that the defendants wish to introduce. Judge Sirica could subpoena Nixon as a court witness, further expanding the range of queries. Unless Nixon can satisfy Sirica that he is medically incapable of appearing, his day in court still looms ahead.
In the understandable concern shown by Gerald Ford over Nixon's personal fate, the larger national interest was submerged. Yet it is not too much to hope that Ford, jolted by the equally understandable objections to his high handed action, now appreciates the larger perspective. If he does not now join in those efforts to see that the full truth of America's most devastating political scandal is preserved and published, he runs the high risk that his own historical record will be linked to that of the discredited President who selected him as his successor. It is a fate that the nation, for its own sake and his, does not wish upon the 38th President of the U.S., whose healing skills, because of his first mistake in office, are more than ever required to exorcise Watergate.