Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-635_o7jq.pdf
Page Number: 8

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

395 F. Supp. 3d 283, 290 (SDNY 2019).  In an alternative 
holding, the court ruled that the President was not entitled
to injunctive relief.  Ibid. 

The Second Circuit met the District Court halfway.  As to 
the dismissal, the Court of Appeals held that Younger ab-
stention was inappropriate because that doctrine’s core jus-
tification—“preventing  friction”  between  States  and  the 
Federal  Government—is  diminished  when  state  and  fed-
eral actors are already in conflict, as the district attorney
and the President were.  941 F. 3d 631, 637, 639 (2019). 

On the merits, the Court of Appeals agreed with the Dis-
trict Court’s denial of a preliminary injunction.  Drawing on
the 200-year history of Presidents being subject to federal
judicial process, the Court of Appeals concluded that “pres-
idential immunity does not bar the enforcement of a state 
grand jury subpoena directing a third party to produce non-
privileged material, even when the subject matter under in-
vestigation pertains to the President.”  Id., at 640.  It also 
rejected the argument raised by the United States as ami-
cus curiae that a state grand jury subpoena must satisfy a
heightened showing of need.  The court reasoned that the 
proposed test, derived from cases addressing privileged Ex-
ecutive Branch communications, “ha[d] little bearing on a
subpoena” seeking “information relating solely to the Pres-
ident in his private capacity and disconnected from the dis-
charge of his constitutional obligations.”  Id., at 645–646. 

We granted certiorari.  589 U. S. ___ (2019). 

II 
In the summer of 1807, all eyes were on Richmond, Vir-
ginia.  Aaron Burr, the former Vice President, was on trial 
for treason.3  Fallen from political grace after his fatal duel 

—————— 

3 See  generally  N.  Isenberg,  Fallen  Founder:  The  Life  of Aaron  Burr 
271–365 (2007); J. Smith, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation 348–374 
(1996);  M.  Lomask,  Aaron  Burr:  The  Conspiracy  and  Years  of  Exile, 
1805–1836, pp. 222–298 (1982).