Close-up photo of Department of Justice headquarters entrance (Two Bridges Photography/Shutterstock.com)Appointing Special Counsels for the Democrats
Special Counsels for Democrats: The Empty Set
In an earlier post, I discussed some of the arguments for whether a special counsel with broad jurisdiction should have been appointed to investigate the connections between Russia and the Trump Campaign. I considered both technical matters and more political/functional arguments for the appointment. But whatever one thinks of the Trump special counsel, one must also consider the Obama special counsels – or the lack thereof. During the 8 years of the Obama Administration, no special counsels were appointed. While the former President claims that he had no scandals, that does not pass the laugh test. I can certainly think of…
Presidential Attacks on Special Counsels: Two Reforms
Recent news reports indicate that President Donald Trump and his administration are investigating the Special Counsel and planning attacks on him and the lawyers in his office. If these stories are true, it would be easy to consider them examples of the excesses of Donald Trump, who has chosen not to live by the ordinary rules that govern Washington politicians. If Trump has criticized so many others, then why not the Special Counsel as well? But that understanding of these attacks is likely to be mistaken. Sure President Trump would be more prone to such attacks than other Presidents. But there…
The Mueller Investigation: Its Size and Scope
Special Counsel Robert MuellerIt is early days for the Mueller investigation, but still there are some interesting developments. One is the appointments made by Mueller. The special counsel has hired 15 lawyers, most of whom are on detail from other parts of the Department of Justice. And the special counsel has plans to hire more lawyers. My first reaction to this was amazement. Fifteen lawyers are a small law firm. What could possibly justify hiring this number, not to mention more people? It is easy to be cynical about this. Mueller has an incentive to maximize his power and knows that it will be difficult…
Investigating Illegal Government Action
The firing of James Comey and the appointment of a special counsel have once again raised the issue of independent counsels and how we address government wrongdoing. I have long thought about this issue, proposing various different solutions to the problem. The basic problem is that we simply do not have adequate institutions in place to address government wrongdoing. During the late 1970s until the end of the Clinton Administration, the Independent Counsel statute was in place. The statute had many significant defects, although it did have some virtues. One virtue was that it had a uniform standard – although probably…
