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In reply to the discussion: President Carter: "I don't think that George W. Bush won the election in 2000, against Al Gore" [View all]JHB
(37,166 posts)24. Because he would take care of "his side"...
That's a big point about the Chief Justice office that gets missed in a lot of discussions: he gets to pick the people on the 3-judge panels that oversee special prosecutors. Rehnquist made sure two of them were politically-reliable conservative activists.
Rehnquist himself played a key role in both sabotaging the Iran-Contra investigation and setting the stage for the relentless legal assault on Bill Clinton and his administration. In a little-noticed maneuver in 1992, Rehnquist used his power as chief justice to overhaul the three-judge panel that picked and supervised special prosecutors.
***
By ousting MacKinnon, Rehnquist eliminated one of Walshs strongest defenders. By putting Sentelle in charge, the chief justice picked a judge who had already voted to overturn Walshs hard-fought convictions of Reagans White House aide Oliver North and National Security Adviser John Poindexter.
Rehnquist made this change despite language in the 1978 Ethics in Government Act aimed at preventing partisanship by stipulating that in picking members of the three-judge panel priority shall be given to senior circuit judges and retired judges. That provision had always been followed until 1992 when Rehnquist brushed aside the language and reached down for an active junior judge, Sentelle.
****
But Sentelle remained as Rehnquists appointee to run the three-judge panel. Sentelle used that authority to pick Republicans for sensitive special prosecutor investigations, whether the target was a Republican or a Democrat. Sentelles first special prosecutor was named when a scandal arose in fall 1992 over the Bush administrations illegal search of Bill Clintons passport records seeking derogatory material that could be used to destroy Clintons political viability.
Sentelles panel handed this politically sensitive probe to Republican stalwart Joseph diGenova, who ran an investigation that turned up many facts pointing to Republican guilt but still concluded that George H.W. Bush and his operatives were innocent.
Once Clinton took office, Sentelles panel began selecting hard-line conservatives to investigate the Democrats. Republican Donald Smaltz was named to investigate Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. David Barrett, who had headed Lawyers for Reagan, was picked to investigate Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros. Most notably, George H.W. Bushs Solicitor General Kenneth Starr was chosen to investigate President Clinton, first over the Whitewater case and later over a variety of other allegations.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/090705.html
***
By ousting MacKinnon, Rehnquist eliminated one of Walshs strongest defenders. By putting Sentelle in charge, the chief justice picked a judge who had already voted to overturn Walshs hard-fought convictions of Reagans White House aide Oliver North and National Security Adviser John Poindexter.
Rehnquist made this change despite language in the 1978 Ethics in Government Act aimed at preventing partisanship by stipulating that in picking members of the three-judge panel priority shall be given to senior circuit judges and retired judges. That provision had always been followed until 1992 when Rehnquist brushed aside the language and reached down for an active junior judge, Sentelle.
****
But Sentelle remained as Rehnquists appointee to run the three-judge panel. Sentelle used that authority to pick Republicans for sensitive special prosecutor investigations, whether the target was a Republican or a Democrat. Sentelles first special prosecutor was named when a scandal arose in fall 1992 over the Bush administrations illegal search of Bill Clintons passport records seeking derogatory material that could be used to destroy Clintons political viability.
Sentelles panel handed this politically sensitive probe to Republican stalwart Joseph diGenova, who ran an investigation that turned up many facts pointing to Republican guilt but still concluded that George H.W. Bush and his operatives were innocent.
Once Clinton took office, Sentelles panel began selecting hard-line conservatives to investigate the Democrats. Republican Donald Smaltz was named to investigate Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. David Barrett, who had headed Lawyers for Reagan, was picked to investigate Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros. Most notably, George H.W. Bushs Solicitor General Kenneth Starr was chosen to investigate President Clinton, first over the Whitewater case and later over a variety of other allegations.
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President Carter: "I don't think that George W. Bush won the election in 2000, against Al Gore" [View all]
kpete
Apr 2014
OP
The deciding vote to anoint the **losing** candidate as president in Bush v Gore:
FailureToCommunicate
Apr 2014
#14
+2 Parry's facts on Nixon's real motive behind Watergate are essential history/reading.
stuffmatters
Apr 2014
#92
I agree the fix was in....when FL was called for Gore...W made an unprecedented appearance..
Gin
Apr 2014
#23
Yes, it was a horrible time and I remember so many things as if it were yesterday
Samantha
Apr 2014
#119
... And St Ronnie, with Bush the Elder's black arts help, killed off Carter's second term.
Hekate
Apr 2014
#20
Mighty sporting of them to return the White House to the Democrats in 2008
RufusTFirefly
Apr 2014
#21
Perhaps the Supreme Court has over-stepped its power .. We the People Rule .. Not the Supremes.
YOHABLO
Apr 2014
#55
In my opinion the SCOTUS has long ago over-stepped the power given by the Constitution.
rhett o rick
Apr 2014
#61
Won't argue about Nixon. Reagan won in 1980 with the Iran October Surprise and...
stevenleser
Apr 2014
#111
Since The Carter Center has observed 96 elections in 38 countries, he'd be in a position to know.
ancianita
Apr 2014
#82
Massive pre-election voter purges in Florida, dirty tricks leading up to and during Election Day,
deutsey
Apr 2014
#87
Finally. A Democrat who finally gets it. It really wasn't in the best of the country's
Baitball Blogger
Apr 2014
#89