Question

The "executive privilege" that relates
to the right of the president to keep
communications confidental is best
described a/an:

1. power that is only applicable to
matters of national security.

2. absolute power that applies to all
communications that a president
engages in while performing offical
duties.

3. limited power that is weighed
against other interests such
as obtaining evidence for a
criminal case.

4. power that only extends to
communications between the
president and his cabinet members.

Is the correct answer 1 or 3?
I think it's 3, but others say its 1.

The question of executive privilege has been debated in the courts and is still unclear. The one power that isn't controversial is that executive privilege is pretty much guaranteed on issues of national security.

Here's more information:

"To read the Art.II powers of the President as providing an absolute privilege as against a subpoena essential to enforcement of criminal statutes on no more than a genaralized claim of the public interest in confidentiality of nonmilitary and nondiplomatic discussions would upset the constitutional balance of 'a workable government' and graveley impair the role of the courts under Art. III" 418 U.S. 683, 707. Because Nixon had asserted only a generalized need for confidentiality, the Court held that the larger public interest in obtaining the truth in the context of a criminal prosecution took precedence.
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