Court Opinion

ID: 9430107
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:28:58.23173+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:23.030412
License: Public Domain

Chief Justice Burger,
concurring in part.
With Justice O’Connor, I join Parts I, III, and IV of the Court’s opinion and the judgment of the Court. I also agree that the Court’s discussion of the absolute immunity issue is unnecessary for the resolution of this case. I write separately to emphasize my agreement with Justice Stevens that the Court’s extended discussion of this issue reaches the wrong conclusion.
In Gravel v. United States, 408 U. S. 606 (1972), we held that aides of Members of Congress who implement the legislative policies and decisions of the Member enjoy the same absolute immunity from suit under the Speech and Debate Clause that the Members themselves enjoy. As I noted in dissent in Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U. S. 800, 822 (1982), the logic underlying Gravel applies equally to top Executive aides. A Cabinet officer — and surely none more than the Attorney General — is an “aide” and arm of the President in *537the execution of the President’s constitutional duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” It is an astonishing paradox that the aides of the 100 Senators and 435 Representatives share the absolute immunity of the Member, but the President’s chief aide in protecting internal national security does not. I agree that the petitioner was entitled to absolute immunity for actions undertaken in his exercise of the discretionary power of the President in the area of national security.