COURT DEADLOCKS ON WIRETAP SUIT AGAINST NIXON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404580016-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: June 23, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404580016-5
ARTICLE ApP#AgED
ON PAGE -
THE WASHINGTON POST
23 June 1981
Court Deadlocks
On Wiretap ': ui I
.4g
sit Nixon
_By Fred Barbash
The Supreme Court yesterday
deadlocked::.on_ the. -c u6iiFissue of.
whether presidents' a6&..dies =advisers
can. be sued for monetary damages
when' they violate the- law
The-:; cour with Jasti "William
Rehnquist not voting,-split.4' fo. 4 over
a ,damage suit brought by: former Na
tional Security ow 'itaff"aideMor-
'ton Halperin-against-former-pcesident
`Nixon, his attorney gerierai,' John N.
Mitchell;' aid his chief. bf staff' H-R:
Haldeman; after Halperin discovered
_ that.. the Nixon White Houw had i1-
legally, tapped . his phones. Rehnquist
wf~o~rQked for. Mitchell at the time of the
t
The tie vote automatically, affirms
the victory Halperin won in the lower
court, so he and his family may be
able to. collect money from Nixon and
his former advisers. The, issue of the
amount; and whether: former national
security- affairs adviser Henry- A." Kiss-
roger must also pay, is up.to the lower
courts.
But tie' votes have no impact-.on
other cases-and the government's ar:
gument,. that- presidents. -and.:. their
aides should have immunity,-front
such. suits,- remains unresolved. 'Flier
government contended that-'allowing
' the suits, -as the Court of Appeals for
the .-District ? bfColumbia `did = ire =the
Isiperin case, would seriously threaten pres
idential
power.
,? _ - ; ~.`,',. ~. ~
The justices may answer- the- question neat
year. At. the same time that they split on the
Halperin-case 'yesterday, they. "agreed to res.
view a damage suit against Nixon brought by
foster, Pentagon `.'whistle-blower"- A. Ernest
Fitzgerald over his . dismissal _ by the Nixon
administration;:
Mark Lynch, ' Halperin's American Civil
Liberties Union lawyer, said yesterday he be-
heved Halperin would collect his money, But the Supreme Court could hold up any award,
and poeeibly' even deny it,-.depending on
when and how the justices resolve the Fitz-
gerald cam next year. - .. .' i
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404580016-5