"EVEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS SUBJECT TO THE CONSTITUTION": FIRST EDITION OF COURT AND THE CONSTITUTION, INSCRIBED BY ARCHIBALD COX

COX, Archibald. The Court and the Constitution. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, (1987). Octavo, original half navy cloth, original dust jacket. $1200.

First edition, second printing, of Archibald Cox's final book, featuring his detailed coverage of the famed "Saturday Night Massacre," inscribed by him, "Best wishes, Archibald Cox," a splendid copy in the original dust jacket.

In Court and the Constitution, Archibald Cox "admirably surveys the history of Constitutional interpretation… [and] reviews significant cases that have shaped the Supreme Court (Personalist Forum). In his prologue Cox describes, at length, the famed "Saturday Night Massacre," a defining moment in history that characterizes, in many ways, his distinguished career. Speaking of that October 1973 night, he writes: "even the President of the United States is subject to the Constitution and other legal obligations as interpreted by an independent judiciary."

The ''Saturday Night Massacre'' came after Nixon refused to turn over tapes linked to the cover-up surrounding the Watergate burglary. When Nixon ordered Cox to stop pursuing the tapes, "Cox said that he was bound by conscience not to capitulate and that he would ask the courts to hold the president in contempt. Within a few hours, the 'massacre' ensued." Refusing to fire Cox, Attorney General Kleindienst, Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus resigned in quick succession. "Finally Cox was dismissed by Robert Bork, the solicitor general. The public outcry was so intense that in the end Nixon was forced to turn over the Oval Office tapes, marking the beginning of the end of his presidency" (New York Times).

Book fine; only lightest edge-wear to about-fine dust jacket.