Foreword
In 1978, Congress enacted the independent counsel law to reassureAmericans that alleged wrongdoings by high-level government officialswould be subject to impartial investigations. Today, 21 yearslater, lawmakers are debating the power, conduct, and cost ofthe independent counsels themselves, and whether the law creatingthe office should be rewritten or simply allowed to expire.Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act, containing theindependent counsel provisions, in the wake of the Watergate scandal,in which President Richard M. Nixon resigned after an investigationrevealed the President’s personal involvement in a cover-up ofillegal activities by his reelection committee and other obstructionof justice issues. The scandal shook the public’s…
