Significance.

             United States v. Nixon severely limited the presidential claim to executive privilege. Executive privilege is not an expressed power, and its status as an implied power had been uncertain prior to this decision. The purpose for the privilege is that presidents must be able to engage in unrestricted discussions with advisers when considering policy options. In addition, active national security interests might be adjusted by compelled disclosure of information. United States v. Nixon acknowledges that privileges should extend to certain information. At the same time, the Nixon case determined that the demands of the criminal justice process must take precedence. The limited view of executive privilege also prevailed when Court considered the matter of presidential records and documents. Following the surrender of president Nixon, Congress enacted a statute requiring screening of all Nixon presidential materials, except those judged privet or personal. The remainder were to be retained by the government and finally open to the public. Nixon claimed executive privilege, but the Court rejected the claim in Nixon v. Administrations of General Services. By rejecting claims to absolute privilege, those decisions of the Court remarkably confined the circumstances under which executive privilege can be used by a president.

             Gregg v. Georgia.

             Examined whether the death penalty was a cruel and unusual punishment. Many states legislatures responded to Furman v. Georgia by revising their capital punishment statutes to structure sentencer discretion. In three cases, Gregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, and Jurek v. Texas, the Supreme Court up held statutes as revised by Georgia, Florida, and Texas. The Court said the death penalty included in the revised statutes does not always violate the Constitution. Justice Potter Stewart said that the Court may not require the legislature to select the least severe penalty possible as long as the penalty selected is not the cruelly inhumane.