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2000
Legal Opinion
Modern Era
A Sitting President's Amenability to Indictment and Criminal Prosecution
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel
"The indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions." The 2000 opinion reviewed the department's 1973 conclusion from the Watergate era and declined to change it.
About this source
A Justice Department legal opinion, building on a 1973 opinion from the Watergate era, holding that a sitting president cannot be indicted or criminally prosecuted while in office.
Why it matters for the project
This is the rule that explains the ending. Students who do not know it exists will read Volume II as evasion. Students who do know it can see that the special counsel was working inside a rule the Justice Department had applied to presidents of both parties.