Archibald Cox

Cox used the special prosecutor's authority to seek Nixon's recordings through subpoenas and the courts. He rejected the White House's proposed substitute of summaries because the underlying evidence mattered to the investigation. Nixon then sought his dismissal, which Bork carried out in October 1973 after two senior Justice Department officials refused. Cox's challenge was therefore an evidential and procedural one: whether the subject of an investigation could determine what the investigator was permitted to examine.