Watergate Influence On Political History

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Few events in modern political history have as dramatically shaped the political landscape as the Watergate scandal. Its impact on our society is unparalleled, even the names we give to current scandals such as deflategate and emailgate are drawn from this notorious scandal. One major change that resulted from the Watergate scandal was a new idea of presidential power. When the Supreme Court rejected Nixon’s claims of executive privilege, it weakened one of the privileges possessed by the executive branch. The court ruled, “that neither the doctrine of separation of powers nor the generalized need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified, presidential privilege.” (“United States v.

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