Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said Thursday that the agency will conduct a background investigation and detailed review of conflict-of-interest issues, a process outlined in the regulation governing special counsels under which he was appointed.
He drafted the special counsel regulations under which Robert Mueller was appointed.
The "substantial and credible" formulation is included in the independent counsel law under which Starr was appointed.
By contrast, the independent counsel statute, under which a panel of judges appoints a lawyer accountable essentially to no one, creates terrible incentives for the prosecutor and distorts the priorities of the legal system.
But there is another policy that can use the 1973 Office of Legal Counsel opinion to its advantage and achieve the same effect as an indictment without having to issue one: the special counsel regulations under which Robert S. Mueller III is appointed.
First, it should be noted that the Supreme Court has not adjudicated the constitutionality of the existing special counsel regulations under which Mr. Mueller was appointed.
"We get billed for 'waiting time.' What is 'waiting time?' " Ed Edelman, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said the new report "certainly indicates the system is not working properly". He said it also shows the county needs to move ahead with so-called alternate defense counsel programs, under which the county contracts with groups of lawyers to provide defense services for a fixed fee.
In fact, the special-counsel regulations under which Mueller was appointed were written precisely to address a situation like this one.
In a letter dated June 27 to the brokerage subsidiary of the Sovran Financial Corporation, the Fed's general counsel, Michael Bradfield, set down the conditions under which Sovran and other bank holding companies could transfer their mutual funds sales operations to discount brokerage subsidiaries.
The conditions under which testing and counselling are provided must also be improved in order to diminish obstacles to uptake, such as fear of stigma and negative reactions to disclosure.
