This was so because, under the new law, three fed-
eral appellate judges (from the District of Columbia
circuit) who were appointed by the chief justice de-
cided not to reappoint him. This panel seemingly
was dominated by David Sentelle, a protégé of the
very conservative Senator Jesse Helms. It appointed
Kenneth Starr to the position. Though Starr’s ap-
pointment was criticized by some, he did have strong
legal credentials. A graduate of Duke University Law
School, Starr had served as federal appeals court
judge before he left that position to serve as solicitor
general during the George H. W. Bush administra-
tion. Indeed, he had at one time been seriously con-
sidered as a nominee to the United States Supreme
Court.
Starr’s Investigations As time went on, a number
of other issues involving Bill and Hillary Rodham
Clinton arose, and Starr received power to expand
his investigation into them. These included the fir-
ing of employees in the White House travel office,
Travelgate, and the transfer of Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) files concerning Bush and
Ronald Reagan administration personnel to the
White House. The more publicized (and sala-
cious) issues investigated by Starr involved the per-
sonal (mis)conduct of the president. This began
with a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Paula
Jones, an Arkansas government employee, based on
an incident that allegedly took place when Clinton
was governor. Jones’s lawyers sought depositions
from others allegedly involved in sexual relations
with the president. One of these was Monica
Lewinsky.
Lewinsky had served as an intern in the White
House, where she gained the president’s eye. They
developed a personal relationship, the exact nature
of which became a matter of great controversy (and
the basis for the impeachment proceedings). Even-
tually, she was transferred to the Pentagon. There,
she became friends with Linda Tripp, to whom she
confessed her relationship with the president. She
also talked to Tripp about efforts made by a friend of
the president to help her get another job. Unbe-
knownst to Lewinsky, Tripp recorded a number of
these conversations, which she turned over to Starr.
Because materials on the tape suggested Clinton
may have tried to influence Lewinsky’s testimony in
the Paula Jones proceedings, an obstruction of jus-
tice issue was raised. Starr quickly asked for, and re-
ceived on January 15, 1998, permission to extend his
investigation to the Lewinsky affair.
In his subsequent deposition to the Jones lawyers,
the president denied having sexual relations with
Lewinsky. It turned out that, while Clinton and
Lewinsky had not engaged in intercourse, oral sex
had been a part of their encounters. Clinton argued
that, in his definition, this did not constitute “sexual
relations.”
After having received immunity for testimony
given in the Jones affair, Lewinsky testified before a
grand jury about her relations with the president.
The pressure put on her to testify was criticized by
many Clinton partisans. Approximately one month
later, in accordance with a provision of the Indepen-
dent Counsel Act, Starr submitted his report to Con-
gress. It contained eighteen boxes of information
and a 445-page report.
In a partisan vote, the House Judiciary Commit-The Nineties in America Starr Report 805
The cover of the Starr Report, released in early September, 1998.
(AP/Wide World Photos)