“The Executive’s current claim of absolute immunity from compelled congressional process for senior presidential aides is without any support in the case law,” U.S. District Judge John Bates wrote in his opinion. Bates went on to cite United States v. Nixon, a landmark Supreme Court ruling in which the court said, “neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial [or congressional] process under all circumstances.”

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