Court Opinion

ID: 9427131
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:19:51.046578+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:05.182405
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Marshall,
dissenting.
As the court below found, respondents here are “seek[ing] to vindicate a precious common law right, one that predates the Constitution itself.” United States v. Mitchell, 179 U. S. App. D. C. 293, 301, 551 F. 2d 1252, 1260 (1976). The Court today recognizes this right and assumes that it is applicable *613here. Ante, at 598-599, and n. 11. It also recognizes that the court with custody of the records must have substantial discretion in making the decision regarding access. Ante, at 599.
The Court nevertheless holds that, contrary to' the rulings below, respondents should be denied access to significant materials in which there is wide public interest. The Court finds “decisive” the existence of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act. Ante, at 607. The Act, however, by its express terms covers only “original tape recordings,” § 101 (a), and it is undisputed that the tapes at issue here are copies, see ante, at 593-594, n. 3, 603-604, n. 15. Indeed, in a commendable display of candor, petitioner has conceded that the Act does not apply. Supplemental Brief for Petitioner 2.
Nothing in the Act’s history suggests that Congress intended the courts to defer to the Executive Branch with regard to these tapes. To the contrary, the Administrator of General Services had to defer to the District Court’s “expertise” in order to secure congressional approval of regulations promulgated under the Act. See post, at 616, and n. 5 (Stevens, J., dissenting). It is clear, moreover, that Congress intended the Act to ensure “the American people . . . full access to all facts about the Watergate affair.” S. Rep. No. 93-1181, p. 4 (1974).
Hence the Presidential Recordings Act, to the extent that it provides any assistance in deciding this case, strongly indicates that the tapes should be released to the public as directed by the Court of Appeals. While petitioner may well be “a legitimate class of one,” Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U. S. 425, 472 (1977), we are obligated to adhere to the historic role of the Judiciary on this matter that both sides concede should be ours to resolve. I dissent.