Supreme Court rules 8-0 that Nixon must release the Watergate tapes

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in United States v. Nixon on July 24, 1974, that President Nixon had to surrender 64 White House tape recordings subpoenaed by special prosecutor Leon Jaworski investigating the Watergate break-in cover-up. Chief Justice Warren Burger, a Nixon appointee, wrote the opinion holding that executive privilege does not provide an absolute shield against a criminal subpoena and that the demonstrated specific need for evidence in a criminal trial outweighed the president's generalized confidentiality interest. Nixon complied and released the tapes; the recordings revealed his direct role in the cover-up and he resigned 16 days later on August 9, 1974.