The Scandal II: Without Counsel

23 Monday Nov 1998

Posted by Tod Lindberg in National Review

The National Review

NOTWITHSTANDING that the House voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Clinton’s lies and obstruction only this October, the fact is that an impeachment inquiry has been underway since January. That’s when independent counsel Kenneth Starr sought and received the blessing of the Justice Department and the court overseeing his investigation to look into the President’s possible perjury and obstruction in the Paula Jones sexual-misconduct case. In essence, Starr began conducting a sort of preliminary inquiry on behalf of (but not under the supervision of) the House Judiciary Committee, where articles of impeachment will in theory originate.

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Ruth Bader Partisan

01 Sunday Nov 1998

Posted by Tod Lindberg in Weekly Standard

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The Weekly Standard

NO ACCOUNT OF A RULING by a federal judge these days is complete without a note on whether the judge was a Democratic or Republican appointee. Why is that? In theory, we should have judicial decisions that apply the law, not rulings based on the personal political preferences of judges. In practice, however, no one is terribly surprised when a ruling favorable to the GOP cause comes from a Republican-appointed judge or when a Democratic appointee comes up with a conclusion favorable to Democrats.

How cynical a view is this? Are the black robes really just camouflage for the indelible stamp of party affiliation guiding each judge’s decisions? That seems overwrought. From time to time you do run across a left-leaning outcome from a Republican appointee or a right-leaning outcome from a Democratic appointee. And even in cases where results conform to cynical expectations, one must not lose sight of the fact that Republican appointees tend to differ from Democratic appointees in their theories of jurisprudence.

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