The constitutional issue at the heart of United States v. Nixon is best described as

A. Whether the Supreme Court could hear the case.

B. The right of a president to resist impeachment.

C. Whether laws had been broken during the Watergate incident.

D. The extent to which the separation of powers was allowed.

Answer:- D. The extent to which the separation of powers was allowed.

The correct answer is ‘The extent to which the separation of powers was allowed.’ The case of United States v. Nixon arose from the Watergate scandal, in which President Richard Nixon was accused of ordering a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The Supreme Court was asked to decide whether Nixon could claim executive privilege to avoid turning over tape recordings of conversations that he had in the Oval Office.

The Court ruled that Nixon could not claim executive privilege and that he had to turn over the tapes. The Court held that the separation of powers does not give the president absolute immunity from the judicial process. The Court also held that the need for confidentiality in high-level communications does not outweigh the need for evidence in a criminal trial.

The Court’s decision in United States v. Nixon was a landmark case in the history of the separation of powers. It established that the president is not above the law, and that the judicial branch has the power to subpoena evidence from the executive branch.