Prosecutorial abuse.

• Author: Hazlett, Thomas W.
• Position: Reinventing the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994

Reinventing the Independent Counsel Act for fun and profit.

"It is my firm conviction that the law has been a good one, helping to restore public confidence in our system's ability to investigate wrongdoing by high-level executive branch officials."

So spake Attorney General Janet Reno on May 14, 1993. She was announcing before Congress "that the [Justice] department and the administration fully support re-enactment" of the Independent Counsel Act. Spending $48 million to hunt down political opponents; issuing sensational indictments only moments before national elections; grilling the wives, lawyers, and ministers of key targets; attacking public officials in reports even when the evidence did not merit indictments; dragging investigations on and on for years - all the proud work of Lawrence Walsh as Iran-Contra special prosecutor - not a problem. "The Iran-Contra investigation, far from providing support for doing away with the act, proves its necessity," opined Reno.

It appears that the Clinton administration and other supporters of the independent counsel law have jogged a few miles down the Damascus Road. Yes, it's possible that a flash of lightning and a few words from the Almighty changed their minds. But a conversion experience this eye-opening has not been seen since Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue hit the library at Holy Innocents High. Archibald Cox, who gained fame when terminated as a prosecutor in Watergate, argued in 1975 that independence had to be guaranteed in a new law (eventually enacted in 1978). "The pressure, the divided loyalty are too much for any man," he said. "Some outside person is absolutely essential." Today, he disagrees, saying the law "contains more evils than benefits."

Fair enough - people learn from 21 years of experience. But what to make of Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), an author of the 1978 act and a key supporter of reauthorization in 1982, 1987, and 1994? Despite such firm commitment, Levin has flipped. So has Georgetown law professor Susan Block, a once-staunch supporter of the statute, who now says: "With unlimited time, an unlimited budget, and a single purpose, the independent counsel can become fanatical and obsessive."

We've heard that before. In a 1988 dissent, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argued, "How frightening it must be to have your own independent counsel and staff appointed, with nothing else to do but to investigate you until investigation is no longer worthwhile." The losing...