No More Special Counsels

City Journal Header

Itโ€™s past time to put an end to one of the most destructive regimes in American law enforcement.

Few innovations in American law enforcement have done more damage than โ€œindependentโ€ prosecutors. Independent and special counsels have upended every presidential administration that has encountered them. They have never yielded benefits commensurate with their costs. They should be abolished.

From my perch at the White House Counselโ€™s Office, I was a front-row observer of, and direct participant in, Robert Muellerโ€™s investigation of Donald Trump. What I saw then confirmed to me the fatal flaws of the special-counsel regimeโ€”flaws that, by now, should be obvious to everyone.

The current special-counsel regulation dates to 1999, the year Congress allowed to expire the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, which inaugurated the role of independent counsel. That 1978 statute, a post-Nixon ethics reform, created โ€œindependent counselsโ€ who, once appointed, wielded the โ€œfull power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions and powers of the Department of Justice.โ€ These independent counsels reported to nobody, and they could only be removed for โ€œgood causeโ€ and โ€œby the personal action of the Attorney General.โ€

By the turn of the century, this regime had achieved bipartisan notoriety, spurring multiple Supreme Court cases, prompting perhaps Justice Antonin Scaliaโ€™s finest opinion (his solo dissent in Morrison v. Olson), and enabling the endless prosecutorial stalking of executive-branch officials.

Congressโ€™s letting the independent-counsel statute expire should have ended the matter. Yet rather than make a clean break, the Department of Justice made a grave, if understandable, error. It adopted a regulation maintaining independent prosecutors but housing them within the Department of Justice under the supervision of the Attorney General. The department believed it was improving the lapsed statute by continuing to exempt these โ€œspecial counselsโ€ from the attorney generalโ€™s โ€œday-to-day supervision,โ€ while making such prosecutorsโ€”unlike independent counselsโ€”ultimately answerable to the attorney general for their investigative and prosecutorial actions.

Experience has proved this system to be no better. For one thing, it does not solve the biggest problem with independent prosecutorial officesโ€”that prosecutors and agents join teams dedicated to pursuing a specific person or group of people. In these supremely political investigations, people who are politically hostile to the investigatory target invariably jump aboard.

By James Burnham

Read Full Article on City-Journal.org

Manhattan Institute
Manhattan Institutehttps://manhattan.institute/
The Manhattan Institute works to keep America and its great cities prosperous, safe, and free.

Beijing and Moscow Double Down on Propping Up Tehran, Threaten to Give It Nukes

As anyone who understands how these things unfold could...

The Looming Threat To Our Homeland

After success of โ€œOperation Midnight Hammer,โ€ where U.S. military bombed Iranian nuclear facilities, the threat to America has never been greater.

Trumpโ€™s Bold Strike on Iran: A Necessary Move for Global Securityย 

Trumpโ€™s airstrikes on Iranโ€™s nuclear facilities have been hailed as a courageous and necessary action to safeguard American interests and global stability.

Groundhog Day came late this year to the Land of Smiles.

itโ€™s the same rigmarole, on whatever pretext, the army commandeers the Thai state with vague promises to restore democracy at some unspecified future date.

Resource number one

Russia has an unsustainable birthrate worsened by mortality rate of Russian males through war and alcoholism. One solution, steal young children from other countries.ย 

Boeing, FAA Share Blame for Door Panel Flying Off During Alaska Airlines Flight: NTSB

The sudden midair door panel blowout on Alaska Airlines flight last year stemmed from failures by Boeing, its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, and the FAA.

RFK Jr. Says Pregnant Women Can Get COVID-19 Vaccine If They Choose To

Pregnant women can get COVID-19 vaccines, even after CDC stopped recommending shots during pregnancy, Sec. RFK, Jr. told members of Congress.

Texas Governor Signs Law Requiring Warning Labels on Some Foods

Texas is requiring companies to add warning labels to some foods, under the Texas MAHA legislation bill signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.

21.8 Million US Seniors Paying for Expenses With Only Social Security Income: Survey

An estimated 21.8 million senior citizens in America make ends meet solely using their social security funds, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) said.

Trump Arrives in Netherlands for NATO Summit, With Defense Spending High on Agenda

President Donald Trump arrived in Amsterdam on Tuesday to attend the NATO summit, which is being held in The Hague from June 24 to 25.

Major Victory for Trump Administration and the American People on Deporting Criminal Illegal Aliens to Third Countries

Supreme Court decision allows DHS to deport criminal illegal aliens who are not wanted in their home country to third countries who've agreed to accept them.

No Changes Planned for FDAโ€™s Vaccine Advisory Committee โ€˜At This Timeโ€™: Spokesperson

There are no plans to remove any members of the panel that advises the FDA on vaccines, a spokesperson said on June 20.

Trump Says Trade Deals Expected With India and Pakistan

President Trump expects US will sign trade deals with India and Pakistan, signaling growing momentum in push to reshape global trade through tariff diplomacy.
spot_img

Related Articles