Word: counsels
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Five years ago this August, several weeks after Congress had extended the independent counsel law for another five years, a three-judge panel appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist made a decision that marked the beginning of the end for the current statute. The judges replaced Whitewater prosecutor Robert B. Fiske Jr, who had angered Senate Republicans by concluding there was no basis for a criminal investigation into the president's failed real estate venture, with a largely unknown judge with no prosecutorial experience. Before he would come to the same conclusion as Fiske four...
...independent counsel's office--like the presidency--should not be judged entirely on the people who hold it. Though Ken Starr's conduct has been outrageous, entirely scrapping the law he abused is no solution...
...result of Starr's conduct during his investigation, it seems clear that Congress will not renew the law this year without substantial revisions. The most urgent flaw of the current statute is that the independent counsel, though himself appointed to oversee and investigate public officials, has no oversight himself. There was no one to monitor him as he spent more than $40 million on his campaign...
...first thing Congress must do is make the independent counsel accountable to someone. Currently, only the attorney general can dismiss independent counsels. But the attorney general is constrained by political considerations. She could hardly dismiss Starr, no matter how badly he conducted his investigation. Why not give the same three-judge panel that appoints independent counsels, or some other non-partisan body, the authority to remove them...
...attorney general should also have tighter control over the scope of future independent counsels' investigations. How Starr, appointed to investigate an Arkansas land venture, managed to get involved in the Lewinsky scandal continues to perplex many. No independent counsel should be a permanent institution; their investigations should be specific and subject to tighter and more regular scrutiny by the attorney general...