A former President must pay
In order to plug news leaks about the conduct of the Viet Nam War, President Richard Nixon in 1969 ordered illegal telephone taps on 17 Government of ficials and journalists. Last week, seven years after he was pardoned of any criminal charges arising from his tenure, a divided Supreme Court determined that Nixon is liable for civil damages to one of those whose privacy he had violated.
The suit was filed by Morton Halperin, who, as an aide to National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, was suspected of leaking information about the secret bombing of Cambodia. The tap on Halperin’s home phone lasted 21 months, long after he had left the Government and joined the campaign staff of Democratic Presidential Candidate Edmund Muskie. No evidence was produced that Halperin had leaked classified information, and his lawyers charged that the eavesdropping was for political rather than security purposes. Nixon’s lawyers claimed that a President should be immune from suits arising from his official acts, so as not to hamper the conduct of policy.
The justices were divided 4 to 4 in the case (William Rehnquist, who was an assistant attorney general at the time of the taps, recused himself). The decision therefore does not set any legal precedent, but it allows a lower court ruling in Halperin’s favor to stand. The high court last week also agreed to consider a suit brought by Ernest Fitzgerald, an Air Force official who says he was fired by Nixon for disclosing cost overruns. That case may settle more clearly whether a President can be sued for his actions in office.
A lower court will now assess damages against Nixon and two codefendants, former Attorney General John Mitchell and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman. The court will also decide if Kissinger is liable. If Halperin, his wife and three sons are found to be eligible for the $100-a-day damages from each defendant, as specified by law, the family could collect more than $1 million. And it might not end there. Nixon faces similar suits from New York Times Reporter Hedrick Smith and former Kissinger Staffer Anthony Lake.