Understanding the role of the Supreme Court in American pol-
itics and life calls for an understanding of the factual and social
environmental underpinnings of litigation that comes to the high
court for review by the justices. Although the Watergate Tapes
litigation came to the Court in late May 1974, the justices, like
all Americans, were fascinated and saddened by the tenor of
the events that shook society prior to the formal legal argu-
ments before the Court. As one scholar observed at the time,
there was "no real possibility that the Court was unaware of
these [Watergate-related] realities." ¹ They, too, watched with
deep concern as the tragedy unfolded before the national and
international communities, in the courtrooms, in the senate
committee rooms, at press conferences, in their daily newspa-
pers, and live on national television and radio.

Five persons broke into the Democratic party's national
headquarters, located in the Watergate complex in Washing-

-21-