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TRUMP v. THOMPSON 

Statement of KAVANAUGH, J. 

documents); see also id., at 17 n. 2.  Any discussion of the 
Court of Appeals concerning President Trump’s status as a 
former President must therefore be regarded as nonbinding 
dicta.

 JUSTICE THOMAS would grant the application. 

  Statement  of  JUSTICE  KAVANAUGH  respecting  denial  of
application.

The Court of Appeals suggested that a former President 
may  not  successfully  invoke  the  Presidential  communica-
tions privilege for communications that occurred during his
Presidency, at least if the current President does not sup-
port the privilege claim.  As this Court’s order today makes
clear, those portions of the Court of Appeals’ opinion were
dicta and should not be considered binding precedent going 
forward. 

Moreover,  I  respectfully  disagree  with  the  Court  of  Ap-
peals  on  that  point.  A  former  President  must  be  able  to 
successfully invoke the Presidential communications privi-
lege  for  communications  that  occurred  during  his  Presi-
dency,  even  if  the  current  President  does  not  support  the 
privilege claim.  Concluding otherwise would eviscerate the 
executive privilege for Presidential communications.

As this Court stated in United States v. Nixon, 418 U. S. 
683,  708  (1974),  the  executive  privilege  for  Presidential 
communications is rooted in Article II of the Constitution 
and is “fundamental to the operation of Government.”  The 
Nixon Court explained that the “importance” of “confidenti-
ality” to the Presidency was “too plain to require” further
discussion.  Id.,  at  705.    “Human  experience  teaches  that 
those  who  expect  public  dissemination  of  their  remarks
may well temper candor with a concern for appearances and 
for their own interests to the detriment of the decisionmak-
ing process.”  Ibid.  Yet a President “and those who assist 
him must be free to explore alternatives in the process of 
shaping policies and making decisions and to do so in a way