Scott Lemieux mocks a thoroughly odious column by Robert Bork in which he warns against the peril of Special Prosecutors (and fulminates about "the disgraceful performance of Patrick Fitzgerald"--naturally); Lemieux notes, of course, that Bork hasn't always felt this way.
The passage that caught my eye, though, was this one:
Richard Nixon was caught in that trap when he removed Richard Kleindienst as attorney general and nominated Elliot Richardson. Richardson, though a highly regarded veteran of several Cabinet posts, was required not only to promise a special prosecutor, but to name his candidate and to draft a charter satisfactory to the Judiciary Committee, guaranteeing the man’s independence. Though the man he named, Archibald Cox, performed well, special prosecutors in general have a very mixed record for devotion to justice rather than to partisan behavior, self-aggrandizement, or both. [emphasis added]Bork, of course, is especially familiar with that part of the story.
Guess he didn't think it was important enough to mention.
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