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u YY - fidentHl in their discretion. This is the fact that the Court withheld in quoting John Marshall (footnote pages — 668, 669). Marshall refused to order the production of the very letter referred to in Jenck'’s case quotation. Marshall decided that the Executive did not have to produce it. Marshall recog- nized without question the law that all official government papers were privileged against subpoena by a defendant in a criminal case, When he wrote on the subject, Marshall was sitting as a trial judge on the Aaron Burr treason case. A letter to the president of the United States was involved. Burr's lawyer claimed that it was a private letter and therefore not privi- leged as an official record. The prosecution claimed that it Was a public paper even though addressed to the President personally Both sides recognized the law that if it was a public file,it could not be produced against the will of the executive. 192)" "ZF do not think that a privilege does exist to withhold private letters of a certain description. The reason is this. Letters to thepresident in his private character, are often written to him in con~ sequence of his public character and may relate to pub- lic concerns, Such a letter though it be a private one, ’ esame ta Fake on fho ewharactoear af an afficial nansar And et Te Ne EL Mae Reta WEE Oe Wer BIC CE Saf ae Saaa Nat he ke ee A Pe eg aks to be such as ought not be forced into public view ---. The president may himself state the particular reasons which may have induced him to withhold a paper, and the court would unquestionably allow their full force to those reasons." Marshall did not order the production even of what appeared on. its face to be unofficial. He left it to the discretion of the executive. Thereafter the president sent a copy excepting such parts as he deemed ought not be made public. Why the Court chose to use a sentence from the revered John Marshall to rule in effect opposite John Marshall remains a judicial mystery if not a judicial disgrace. One other little mystery is the final twist the Court gave to t+ha Tae abe ase LHe WEelnaoS Cdoeec. 967.