Word: counsels
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...adversaries never subpoenaed the President. In the past there has been a grease of custom and compromise that kept Presidents and prosecutors from getting this far in the hole. "You never want to litigate questions of separation of powers," says C. Boyden Gray, George Bush's White House counsel. "When you litigate these things rather than bargain over them, you tend to lose them...
...leaders are likely to try two things instead, both of them bad: form independent and probably unaccountable shadow cabinets outside government, to whom they can go for sensitive advice; or, worse yet, keep their own counsel entirely. And getting good advice in the future will depend on talented people being willing to expose themselves to new legal risks. "If somebody asked me to serve now," says Rozell, "I'd say 'No way.' You'd have to be independently wealthy even to think about it." Some White House staff members in private moments express bitterness about how their friends and colleagues...
Optimists and reformers already foresee laws that will undo the Supreme Court's Paula Jones decision and protect sitting Presidents from lawsuits; revisions of the independent-counsel law to preserve its value but limit its potential for abuse; even laws that would affirm a privilege for Secret Service agents and government lawyers. Clinton's successors, if they are men or women of unimpeachable character and conduct, can go a long way to set things right. Reagan was the latest President to test the resilience of the office: following the disgrace of Nixon and the disappointments of Ford and Carter, books...
...That's hardly conclusive evidence, but it may be enough to tip the balance in the DOJ's bitter civil war over whether to call for a campaign-finance independent counsel. Repeated calls for a probe from Louis Freeh and prosecutor Charles La Bella have so far gone unheeded by Janet Reno; according to a report in Thursday's New York Times, however, the A-G is beginning to swing. Reno has until the end of August to order a 90-day preliminary inquiry into the allegations against Gore. That's just enough time to give Al a nice "welcome...
...goal." Such prevarication may earn Clinton a new subpoena, of course, presuming Monica stood by her story. But the President's legal team knows that would make Starr appear to be simply pursuing salacious details, which is exactly how they are trying to paint him. The independent counsel's other option? Take the intern's testimony for what it is -- courtroom evidence of presidential perjury -- and send the whole kit and caboodle along to Congress...