DUers, Special Prosecutor in Plame case but that law expired

[EVDebs]

supposedly (?)... the Independent Prosecutor law expired June 30, 1999.

This is strange...in today's paper a NYT article by Adam Liptak on the Plame case reporters, Judith Miller of NYT and Matt Cooper of Time, says that

"...all three judges agreed that the special prosecutor in the case, Patrick Fitzgerald, demonstrated a need for the information..."

Apparently you CAN prosecute the White House's outrageous conduct and investigate lies to the public AFTER ALL.

DUers, what law is Fitzgerald operating under ? Find it, use it.

[Oreo]

1. I thought it was free-reign investigating that expired.

I could be wrong but I thought it was that the special investigator could only investigate what the original reason of the case was and couldn't do what Starr did by looking at everything until he found something.

[EVDebs]

3. I'm not sure, which is why I've DUed this, but isn't it a grand jury in

Washington DC or nearby ? We need to know how this process got going and run with the ball. Barbara Bush went after Phillip Agee years ago, saying he'd outed Greek ops agents; he counter-sued and won causing her book to be revised.

What do you do about court-outed agents like Edwin Wilson and Frank Terpil who have violated US laws and then get mentioned in press ?

What if Gannon turns out to be CIA or army PsyOps with WH ties ? Think ahead.

[lancdem]

2. The attorney general can appoint one

but that person (Fitzgerald included) is technically under the DOJ's supervision. Ken Starr was not. He was appointed by a RW appeals court.

[EVDebs]

5. Did AG appoint Fitzgerald ? Or is he from a D.C. grand jury ? eom

[leveymg]

4. It was the Independent Counsel law that expired. The AG can appoint a

"special prosecutor" anytime he wants. That's been the case for a long time.

The Independent Counsel did not require Attorney General approval to begin an investigation, and could not be fired by the AG.

[teddyk23]

6. in this case...

As an earlier poster said, the indpt counsel law expired.

There are however justice dpartment guidlines for when the AG must appoint a special prosecutor, which were clearly met in the plame matter.

Notwithstanding that fact, Ashcroft did not appoint a special prosecutor in the Plame matter. He tasked Peter Fitzgerald, a US Atty with investigating it and gave him some independence. This was basically Ashcroft's way of thumbing his nose at the rules he was supposed to follow.

So, we have neither an independent counsel or a special prosecutor.

That said, Fitzgerald is said to be very good, rigorous and independent. We will see.

[leveymg]

7. I think you're right on all the above.

We'll see how independent Fitzgerald really is. I understand that high level prosecutions are unlikely. Scooter may get off with a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

Is that correct?

[EVDebs]

8. Key word in your post was AG "must" appoint a i.p. in certain cases

DUers -- we need to know what those cases are and if the new AG "must" appoint one when confronted with the facts...