Independent Counsels

The Supreme Court, attempting to resolve a constitutional clash between Congress and the White House, announced Monday that it will decide whether the independent counsel law is a legal way to attack high-level government corruption or an unconstitutional infringement on the President's power. The court will examine the crucial question of how the counsels are appointed--by a special three-judge panel, as directed by the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, rather than by the executive branch.

An independent counsel has completed his review of the NCAA enforcement program and is expected to submit a report late next week. The college governing body called upon Kenneth L. Wainstein, former homeland security advisor to President George W. Bush, after the recent announcement of potentially severe misconduct by investigators in the long-standing University of Miami case. NCAA staff members allegedly paid the criminal defense attorney for Nevin Shapiro - a former booster at the center of the Miami scandal - to improperly obtain information for an investigation.

Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, whose run-in with an independent counsel cost him $1.5 million in legal bills, says his experience casts doubt on the whole institution. Espy, one of several speakers on a panel examining the fate of the independent counsel law, was acquitted in December of 30 charges that he accepted gifts and entertainment from companies or organizations regulated by the agency. He is now a private attorney in Jackson, Miss.

Shortly after Duquesne University law professor Ken Gormley decided to write a book about the crisis that almost ended Bill Clinton's presidency, a powerful publishing figure offered some advice. "I won't name names, but a very prominent agent said: 'No one's going to care about the Clintons in another year or two, they're passé,' " Gormley said recently over lunch here. "This was in 2000." Later, when it looked as if Hillary Clinton might win the 2008 Democratic nomination, other would-be experts urged Gormley to get his book out. But his publisher decided to stick with the writer's timeline, deeming it too important to be rushed.

Independent counsels are the Energizer bunnies of Washington. Almost nothing stops them. Soon, in response to congressional pressure, another independent counsel may be created to examine questions about the White House's role in political fund-raising during the 1996 campaign. If that happens, count on the probe to have an extended shelf life. And don't hold your breath waiting for dramatic indictments. Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W.

A federal judge Wednesday scheduled a public hearing next Wednesday on Lt. Col. Oliver L. North's challenge to independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh's authority to investigate the Iran- contra affair. The issue is the central aspect of North's otherwise secret court battle resisting a grand jury subpoena for a sample of his handwriting. North had been held in contempt of court for refusing to provide the sample, but the U.S.

The independent counsel law, born of scandal and steeped in controversy at a cost of nearly $150 million so far, expires today at age 21. The relevant provisions of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 once were hailed as a bipartisan response by Congress to the Saturday Night Massacre, in which two attorneys general resigned rather than carry out President Nixon's 1973 demand that Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox be fired.

Two independent counsels challenged the legal arguments of their critics Tuesday, saying the federal law under which they were appointed does not violate the separation of powers doctrine in the Constitution. The 1978 Ethics in Government Act, under which independent counsels are appointed by a panel of judges, does not invade the law enforcement prerogatives of the executive branch of government, Alexia Morrison said in a court brief.

The House on Tuesday passed and sent to President Clinton legislation to reinstate the law authorizing independent counsels to investigate alleged wrongdoing by top federal officials. The 317 to 105 vote on the measure, which Clinton is expected to sign, would restore the regular procedure used in 13 investigations since 1978 to avoid apparent conflicts of interest. The Senate approved the bill last month.

Atty. Gen. William P. Barr refused Tuesday to authorize an independent prosecutor to investigate charges that high-level Justice Department officials stole software from a computer company and conspired to drive it into bankruptcy. Barr rejected a call for the independent counsel made on Sept. 10 by House Democrats. In a two-page statement, he said there was not enough specific information against high-level department officials to warrant an independent investigation.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III on Tuesday tapped former CIA and FBI chief William H. Webster to lead an independent review of the bureau's "policies, practices and actions" before last month's shooting rampage at Ft. Hood, Texas. Webster, who also was a federal judge, "is uniquely qualified to undertake this task and look at the procedures and actions involved in this matter," Mueller said. "It is essential to determine whether there are improvements to our current practices or other authorities that could make us all safer in the future."

The Obama administration Monday set the country on a course to confront whether actions taken in the name of defending Americans instead crossed criminal lines. In simultaneous moves, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. opened an investigation into whether CIA interrogators broke the law and the administration complied with a judge's order and released a long-secret CIA report that cataloged allegations of agency prisoner abuse. The administration also released memos sought in recent months by former Vice President Dick Cheney that he argued attest to the success of the CIA's controversial methods, but that appeared inconclusive in part because the agency had blacked out large portions of the memos.

Can Ken Starr tame Malibu's rabid paparazzi? That's what Malibu officials are hoping as they turn to the independent counsel who investigated President Clinton's involvement with White House intern Monica Lewinsky to help them craft restrictions on "pap packs" that descend on the celebrity-rich coastal town. Malibu officials say their town has been overrun by members of the celebrity media, who camp out at the city's few shopping centers and follow celebrities down Pacific Coast Highway.

Robert Ray, a former independent counsel who investigated President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, turned himself in to police on charges of stalking a former girlfriend, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office. New York police say Ray's former girlfriend, a 40-year-old Manhattan woman, filed a complaint that he persisted in sending e-mail and knocking on her door months after she broke off their relationship.

Two Senate Democrats are calling on Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate lobbyist Jack Abramoff's activities in two Pacific island territories. In a letter made public Thursday, Sens. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Ken Salazar of Colorado also asked Gonzales to provide the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with a secret Justice Department report on security risks in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

After about 10 years and $21 million spent investigating former Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros, the last independent counsel from the Clinton era officially ended his probe Thursday, complaining he needed more time to unravel what might have been a massive "coverup at high levels of our government." David M. Barrett, a former Republican lawyer and lobbyist who was appointed in 1995 to investigate the Democrat, issued a 474-page "Final Report of the Independent Counsel."

With U.S. troops unable to find expected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a group of officials met aboard Air Force Two in mid-2003 to discuss how to respond to the growing prominence of one particular critic of President Bush's war policy. Vice President Dick Cheney was on the flight. So was his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. It was a scene that suggested intrigue.

The reputation of Patrick J. Fitzgerald was well-known to colleagues, defense lawyers and others long before he brought criminal charges against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the CIA leak investigation: meticulous, aggressive, intense and, most of all, by-the-book. All those traits were on public display Friday as the special prosecutor delineated his reasons for seeking Libby's indictment by a federal grand jury. The same traits were also on display in the charges themselves.