Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-635_o7jq.pdf
Page Number: 37.0

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

5 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

kind of sacred person.’ ”  Ibid.  Schuyler’s theory clearly has
no basis in the Constitution, and the view held by Adams
and Ellsworth seems to be grounds for relief from enforce-
ment rather than a basis for absolute immunity from issu-
ance of a subpoena. 

B 
This original understanding is reflected in an early cir-
cuit decision by Chief Justice Marshall, on which the major-
ity  partially  relies.    In  1805,  disgraced  former  Vice  Presi-
dent  Aaron  Burr  began  a  murky  series  of  negotiations  to
raise a volunteer army in the Western Territories.  Ante, at 
3–4.  One of his contacts, General James Wilkinson, was not 
only  commander  of  the  Army  and  Governor  of  Louisiana, 
but also a Spanish spy.  Ante, at 4, n. 4; Yoo, supra, at 1440. 
After Burr set out with his army—perhaps to attack Span-
ish forces or perhaps to separate Western Territories from
the United States—Wilkinson wrote to President Jefferson 
and accused Burr of the latter.  Ante, at 4; Yoo, supra, at 
1440.  Burr was arrested for treason and brought before a
grand jury in Richmond, where Chief Justice Marshall pre-
sided. 

During the grand jury proceedings, Burr moved for a sub-
poena duces tecum ordering President Jefferson to produce 
the correspondence concerning Burr.  Burr,  25 F. Cas.,  at 
30.  Chief Justice Marshall pre-emptively rejected any no-
tion of absolute immunity, despite the fact that the Govern-
ment  did  not  so  much  as  suggest  it  in  court.    He  distin-
guished  the  President  from  the  British  monarch,  who  did
have immunity, calling it an “essentia[l] . . . difference” in 
our system that the President “is elected from the mass of 
the people, and, on the expiration of the time for which he 
is elected, returns to the mass of the people again.”  Id., at 
34.  Thus, the President was more like a state governor or 
a member of the British cabinet than a king.  Chief Justice 
Marshall found no authority suggesting that these officials