306 CHAPTER 10|THE PRESIDENCY
set dates for the beginning and end of legislative sessions well in advance, this
power is irrelevant. Similarly, the Constitution gives the president the responsi-
bility for receiving ambassadors from other nations by offi cially recognizing that
they speak on behalf of their countries’ rulers. The president also signs commis-
sions to formally appoint military offi cers.EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE
Finally, although this power is not formally set out in the Constitution or a statute,
all presidents have claimed to hold the power of executive privilege. This refers
to the ability to shield themselves and their subordinates from revealing White
House discussions, decisions, or documents (including e-mails) to members of the
legislative or judicia l bra nches of government.^33 The nature of executive privilege—
exactly what it protects versus what Congress can force the president to release—
is an unsettled question. Some constitutional scholars even argue that in legal
terms, executive privilege doesn’t exist.^34
Although claims of executive privilege have been made since the ratifi cation of
the Constitution in 1789, it is still not clear exactly what falls under the privilege
and what does not. In the 1974 case United States v. Nixon, a special prosecutor
appointed by the Justice Department to investigate the Watergate scandal chal-
lenged President Nixon’s claims of executive privilege to force him to hand over
tapes of potentially incriminating Oval Offi ce conversations involving Nixon and
his senior aides. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that executive privilege
does exist, but that the privilege is not absolute. The Court’s decision required
Nixon to release the tapes, which proved his involvement with attempts to cover
up the scandal; but the ruling did not clearly state the conditions under which a
future president could withhold such information.^35
Claims of executive privilege present a dilemma. On the one hand, members of
Congress need to know what is happening in the executive branch. In the case of
President Nixon and the Watergate scandal, claims of executive privilege allowed
the Watergate cover-up to continue for more than a year and would have kept this
information secret permanently if the Court had ruled in Nixon’s favor.^36 Claims
of executive privilege can also weaken accountability to the public, as restrict-
ing information may leave the average voter unaware of what an administrationexecutive privilege The right
of the president to keep executive
branch conversations and cor-
respondence confi dential from the
legislative and judicial branches.
THE PRESIDENT IS THE UNOFFICIAL
head of his party and works
with fellow party members in
government. In 2011, President
Obama and the Democrats met
with congressional Republicans to
try to resolve the confl ict between
the two parties over the defi cit and
the national debt.