What is Executive Privilege?

Executive privilege is a power presidents have asserted to withhold information from Congress and the courts on the grounds that secrecy is essential to the performance of certain presidential duties. It particularly has covered communications between the president and his advisers, on the theory that the leader will receive the most candid advice should his conversations remain confidential.

In 1974, the Supreme Court denied President Richard Nixon’s effort to quash the Watergate special prosecutor’s subpoena for White House tape recordings of Oval Office conversations. While the court recognized the president’s general...