Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 76.0

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

9 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

C 
Our country’s history also points to an established under-
standing,  shared  by  both  Presidents  and  the  Justice  De-
partment,  that  former  Presidents  are  answerable  to  the 
criminal law for their official acts.  Cf. Chiafalo v. Washing-
ton, 591 U. S. 578, 592–593 (2020) (“ ‘Long settled and es-
tablished practice’ may have ‘great weight in a proper in-
terpretation  of  constitutional  provisions’ ”  (quoting  The 
Pocket Veto Case, 279 U. S. 655, 689 (1929))).  Consider Wa-
tergate,  for  example.    After  the  Watergate  tapes  revealed 
President  Nixon’s  misuse  of  official  power  to  obstruct  the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation of the Wa-
tergate  burglary,  President  Ford  pardoned  Nixon.  Both 
Ford’s pardon and Nixon’s acceptance of the pardon neces-
sarily “rested on the understanding that the former Presi-
dent  faced  potential  criminal  liability.”    Brief  for  United 
States 15; see also Public Papers of the Presidents, Gerald 
R. Ford, Vol. 1, Sept. 8, 1974, p. 103 (1975) (granting former 
President Nixon a “full, free, and absolute pardon . . . for all 
offenses  against  the  United  States  which  he . . .  has  com-
mitted or may have committed or taken part in during” his
Presidency);  R.  Nixon,  Statement  by  Former  President
Richard  Nixon  to  P.  Buchen,  Counsel  to  President  Ford, 
p. 1 (Sept. 8, 1974) (accepting “full and absolute pardon for 
any charges which might be brought against me for actions
taken  during  the  time  I  was  President  of  the  United
States”).

Subsequent special counsel and independent counsel in-
vestigations have also operated on the assumption that the
Government can criminally prosecute former Presidents for 
their official acts, where they violate the criminal law.  See, 
e.g., 1 L. Walsh, Final Report of the Independent Counsel 
for  Iran/Contra  Matters:  Investigations  and  Prosecutions 
445  (1993)  (“[B]ecause  a  President,  and  certainly  a  past
President, is subject to prosecution . . . the conduct of Pres-