Starr, Kenneth Winston

Starr, Kenneth Winston, 1946–, American public official; b. Vernon, Tex. Educated at Harding College and George Washington Univ., he studied law at Duke Univ. After clerking for Chief Justic Warren Burger and working in the Justice Dept., he served on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Later he was solicitor general (1989–93) in the Bush administration, then practiced law privately. In Aug., 1994, he was named Whitewater prosecutor, replacing Robert Fiske. Starr's office gradually expanded the scope of its investigations of President Clinton and his administration, but without striking success, until, in Jan., 1998, his inquiry was expanded to included the president's role in what became the Lewinsky scandal. Clinton's defenders criticized the conservative Starr as ideologically motivated, and his report to the House of Representatives, setting out a case for impeachment, was attacked as prejudicially detailed. After the impeachment and acquittal of the president, Starr seemed to agree that the law establishing the independent counsel should not be renewed, although he strongly defended his actions. The law lapsed in June, 1999, and he resigned the Whitewater post in October. He has written First among Equals (2002), a conservative examination of the late-20th-century Supreme Court.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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