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Page Number: 66

22 

TRUMP v. VANCE 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

initially on trial for his life sought to obtain exculpatory ev-
idence from the very man who was orchestrating the prose-
cution.  Ante, at 5.  Marshall’s ruling took note of the context 
in which the evidence was sought.  He stated: “If there be a 
paper in the possession of the executive, which is not of an 
official  nature,  he  must  stand,  as  respects  that  paper,  in
nearly  the  same  situation  with  any  other  individual  who 
possesses a paper which might be required for the defense.” 
Burr, 25 F. Cas., at 191 (emphasis added). 

Second, it is significant that Burr, unlike the prosecutor
in the present case, did not have the option of postponing 
his  request  for  information  until  the  President’s  term 
ended.  Burr  had  not  chosen  to  be  charged  or  tried  while
Jefferson was in office, and by the time Jefferson’s tenure 
ended, his trial was history.  Third, because the case was 
prosecuted  in  federal  court  under  federal  law,  it  entirely 
lacked the federalism concerns that lie at the heart of the 
present case.

The lesson we should take from Marshall’s jurisprudence
is the lesson of McCulloch—the importance of preventing a 
State  from  undermining  the  lawful  exercise  of  authority
conferred by the Constitution on the Federal Government.
There is considerable irony in the Court’s invocation of Mar-
shall  to  defend  a  decision  allowing  a  State’s  prosecutorial 
power to run roughshod over the functioning of a branch of
the Federal Government. 

The Court’s other examples of presidential subpoenas, far 
from  supporting  the  Court’s  holding,  actually  show  that 
usual procedures have been substantially altered in cases
involving Presidents.  In every one of the examples, a Pres-
ident did not testify in person, as is almost always required 
when a witness is subpoenaed to testify at a criminal trial
or before a grand jury, but instead was deposed.  Ante, at 8. 
The  examples  involving  Presidents  Ford  and  Carter  oc-
curred under modern federal rules of procedure, and allow-