Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[obiterdictum]

Good Morning,

Yes, a judge may decline to allow the exercise of executive privilege by a president in the GSE court cases.

In United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, the Supreme Court stated that "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 process under all circumstances."

The Supreme Court clearly acknowledged Nixon's authority to obtain executive privilege. However, the Court ruled that using executive privilege is limited, not absolute. It should be noted, that this was in a criminal proceeding and so may not directly apply in all civil cases like the GSE cases.

The conditions when and where executive privilege can be denied varies case by case and judge by judge based on the legal precedents, case type and the demands of the case.

See: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=418&invol=683