Does the Constitution allow for executive privilege?
Nowhere does the Constitution mention the term or the concept of executive privilege. The belief that it does, the late legal historian Raoul Berger once said, is one of the greatest “constitutional myths.” So how can a president simply withhold information if the Constitution doesn’t give him the power to do so? Presidents have argued that executive privilege is a principle implied in the constitutionally mandated separation of powers. In order to do their job, presidents contend, they need candid advice from their aides — and aides simply won’t be willing to give such advice if they know they might be called to testify, under oath, before a congressional committee or in some other forum. How long have presidents been invoking executive privilege? For as long as there have been presidents. In 1792, George Washington rebuffed efforts by Congress and the courts to get information about a disastrous expedition against American Indian tribes along the Ohio River. Washington lost that batt
