U.S Justice Dept. Withdraws Its support Of independent Counsel Law

Jet, March 22, 1999

Rep. Eva Clayton (D-NC) attended the rally and said: "I think the settlement is a step in the right direction. But also, it is not a complete settlement."

In addition, the farmers noted the settlement puts the burden of proof on the farmers to document their cases seeking larger damages.

"We're talking about elderly people who have little formal education, who operated in an atmosphere of racism and bigotry. People who did not necessarily file complaints," explained Gary Grant, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Assn.

Showing up at the courthouse parking lot with his mule, Struggle, John Boyd, Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, said, "We definitely want a settlement, but we want a settlement that's going to be fair to the Black farmers who have been victims of the Department of Agriculture."

Some of the things farmers mentioned to be included in the settlement are a review board to look over the arbitrator's rulings and the firing of department officials in the counties that participated in the discrimination.

Judge Friedman explained that he could not modify the settlement.

"There are things I can do and pressure that I can bring to bear. But I think everybody has to understand that all I can do is approve the settlement of the lawsuit or not approve the settlement of the lawsuit." He did not specify when he would issue a final decision on the settlement.

Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder recently told a congressional panel that the Justice Department no longer supports re-enactment of the 21-year-old independent counsel law.

Holder, the department's No. 2 official, told a House Judiciary subcommittee, "The Department of Justice has reluctantly come to the conclusion that the structural flaws (in the act) cannot be fixed."

The independent counsel statute, which was created in 1978 as an answer to the public's post-Watergate mistrust of government, will expire June 31 unless Congress reauthorizes the law. The consensus on Capitol Hill seems to be that it was a well-intentioned law that has gone awry.

The main question now is whether enough members of Congress believe the independent counsel law is worth the effort of re-writing.

Holder added that the Justice Department concluded that the law has "failed to accomplish its primary goal: the enhancement of confidence in the rule of law by the American people ... The act was supposed to increase trust in our government. In fact, it has diminished it."

President Clinton's personal attorney, Robert Bennett, concurred with the Justice Department's analysis. He said "[the counsel law] has become a vehicle for subjecting (public officials), and those around them, to seemingly perpetual scrutiny more intense than any private citizen would have to endure."

At JET press time, the Senate was continuing its debate on the fate of the statute.