Starr's Grand Jury Investigation Sparks First Amendment Concerns

Strategic Insights -

Starr's Independent Counsel office is focusing on potential White House leaks to the media, which has raised concerns about his use of the grand jury process to silence critics and undermine the First Amendment. The investigation has been met with criticism from law experts, academics, and politicians, who argue that Starr is overstepping his authority and jeopardizing the relationship between journalism and politics. President Clinton's allies are using Starr's tactics and motives as a distraction from the obstruction of justice investigation, and Starr's allies are defending his actions as a legitimate pursuit of truth.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is investigating potential White House leaks to the media using a grand jury, which has raised concerns about his use of the grand jury process to silence critics and undermine the First Amendment.
  • The investigation has been met with criticism from law experts, academics, and politicians, who argue that Starr is overstepping his authority and jeopardizing the relationship between journalism and politics.
  • President Clinton's allies are using Starr's tactics and motives as a distraction from the obstruction of justice investigation, and Starr's allies are defending his actions as a legitimate pursuit of truth.
  • Sidney Blumenthal, a White House communications adviser and former journalist, is at the center of the current eruption, having turned over White House documents to the grand jury, including phone logs showing his contacts with reporters.
  • Philip Heymann, a former top Justice Department official, has accused Starr of a gross abuse of the grand jury process, using it to try to silence critics.
  • Starr on Wednesday proceeded undeterred by the flap, calling a new roster of current and former White House aides before the grand jury, including Nancy Hernreich, director of Oval Office Operations, and former aides Timothy Keating and Patsy Thomasson.
  • The White House is weighing a politically risky move for itself, whether or not to invoke executive privilege to shield testimony by several key aides.
  • David Kendall and Robert S. Bennett, Clinton's private lawyers, have acknowledged that a private investigator, Terry F. Lenzer, has gathered publicly available information about members of Starr's staff, some of which has found its way into critical news articles.

Statistics:

  • Starr's office is using a grand jury to investigate potential White House leaks to the media.
  • The grand jury has been convened to focus on potential White House leaks to the media and has been met with criticism from law experts, academics, and politicians.
  • The Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr has been under fire for his tactics and motives in the investigation of the President and the White House, with some accusing him of using the grand jury to silence critics and undermine the First Amendment.
  • The White House has turned over documents to the grand jury, including phone logs showing Blumenthal's contacts with reporters.
  • The White House is weighing a politically risky move for itself, whether or not to invoke executive privilege to shield testimony by several key aides.

Sources:

  • Washington _ Post_
  • The New York Times
  • Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office
  • White House spokesperson Jim Kennedy
  • Bill Bennett, conservative Republican and former education secretary
  • Philip Heymann, former top Justice Department official
  • David A. Harris, University of Toledo professor of law and values
  • Floyd Abrams, noted New York media lawyer
  • Marvin Kalb, former CBS journalist and director of the Shorenstein Center on Press and Politics at Harvard University