POLITICAL LAW REVIEWER FOR THE 2013 BAR EXAMS: BRILLIANCY NOTES: Executive Privilege” - It has been used even prior to the promulgation of the 1986 Constitution. Being of American origin, it is best understood in light of how it has been defined and used in the legal literature of the United States. Schwartz defines executive privilege as “the power of the Government to withhold information from the public, the courts, and the Congress.”64 Similarly, Rozell defines it as “the right of the President and high-level executive branch officers to withhold information from Congress, the courts, and ultimately the public.” Executive privilege is, nonetheless, not a clear or unitary concept. 66 It has encompassed claims of varying kinds. Tribe, in fact, comments that while it is customary to employ the phrase “executive privilege,” it may be more accurate to speak of executive privileges “since presidential refusals to furnish information may be actuated by any of at least three distinct kinds of considerations, and may be asserted, with differing degrees of success, in the context of either judicial or legislative investigations.” One variety of the privilege, Tribe explains, is the state secrets privilege invoked by U.S. Presidents, beginning with Washington, on the ground that the information is of such nature that its disclosure would subvert crucial military or diplomatic objectives. Another variety is the informer’s privilege, or the privilege of the Government not to disclose the identity of persons who furnish information of violations of law to officers charged with the enforcement of that law. Finally, a generic privilege for internal deliberations has been said to attach to intragovernmental documents reflecting advisory opinions, recommendations and deliberations comprising part of a process by which governmental decisions and policies are formulated. (Citations omitted) (2013 TACORDA BIDO BERNABE DELA VEGA & NAPAY-LITUSQUEN 789)
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 22:55:33 +0000
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