United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 , was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision. It was a unanimous 8-0 ruling falling against President Richard Nixon and was important to the late stages of the Watergate scandal. It is considered a crucial precedent limiting the power of any U.S. president. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger wrote the opinion for a unanimous court, joined by Justices William O. Douglas, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun and Lewis F. Powell. Associate Justice William Rehnquist, a Nixon appointee, recused himself as he... had a prior association with the Nixon administration. The Watergate scandal began during the 1972 presidential campaign between Democratic Senator George McGovern of South Dakota and President Richard Nixon. On June 17, before Nixon won the election, five burglars broke into Democratic headquarters located in the Watergate building complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon appointed Archibald Cox to the position of special prosecutor, charged with investigating the break-in, but then arranged to have Cox fired in the Saturday Night Massacre.
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