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106-849: The " Saturday Night Massacre " was a series of resignations over the dismissal of special prosecutor Archibald Cox that took place in the United States Department of Justice during the Watergate scandal in 1973. The events followed the refusal by Cox to drop a subpoena for the Nixon White House tapes at President Richard Nixon 's request. During a single evening on Saturday, October 20, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox; Richardson refused and resigned effective immediately. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; Ruckelshaus refused, and also resigned. Nixon then ordered

212-526: A "sweetheart" deal in Delaware where he was facing several criminal charges relates to tax evasion and firearm offenses. On 15 July 2024, federal judge Aileen Cannon , in a 93-page ruling, ruled that Jack Smith's appointment and funding were both unconstitutional under Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, of the US Constitution , which prohibits appropriations except when authorized by law. She also ruled that it

318-1024: A clear signal that, should he become a justice of the Supreme Court, he would vote to completely overrule the Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade . Accordingly, a large number of groups mobilized to press for Bork's rejection, and the 1987 Senate confirmation hearings became an intensely partisan battle. On October 23, 1987, the Senate denied Bork's confirmation, with 42 senators voting in favor and 58 senators voting against. Two Democratic senators ( David Boren of Oklahoma , and Fritz Hollings of South Carolina ) voted in favor of his nomination, while six Republican senators ( John Chafee of Rhode Island , Bob Packwood of Oregon , Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania , Robert Stafford of Vermont , John Warner of Virginia , and Lowell Weicker of Connecticut ) voted against it. His defeat in

424-420: A conflict of interest arises or to avoid even the appearance such a conflict exists. In local state governments, special prosecutors are appointed by a judge, government official, organization, company or group of citizens to prosecute violations of law committed by one or more governmental agents and procure indictments for actions taken under color of state law. Unlike in courts having federal jurisdiction, where

530-524: A fight if Bork were nominated. Nevertheless, Reagan nominated Bork for Powell's seat on July 1, 1987. Following Bork's nomination, Senator Ted Kennedy took to the Senate floor with a strong condemnation of him, declaring: Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at

636-478: A four-year break from 1973 to 1977 when he served as U.S. Solicitor General. Among Bork's students at Yale Law were Bill Clinton , Hillary Clinton , Anita Hill , Robert Reich , Jerry Brown , Linda Greenhouse , John Bolton , Samuel Issacharoff , and Cynthia Estlund . As a law professor, Bork was best known for his 1978 book The Antitrust Paradox , in which he argued that consumers often benefited from corporate mergers, and that many contemporary readings of

742-623: A man who did the President's bidding to save my job". Nevertheless, having been brought to the White House by limousine and sworn in as acting attorney general, Bork wrote the letter dismissing Cox. Initially, the Nixon White House claimed to have fired Ruckelshaus, but as an article published the next day by The Washington Post pointed out, "The letter from the President to Bork also said Ruckelshaus resigned", catching Nixon lying. The night he

848-418: A particular matter, but the decision of whether or not to appoint the independent counsel remained with the attorney general and was not reviewable in court. If the attorney general decided not to appoint an independent counsel in response to such a request, they were only required to respond in writing with the reasons. Although the decision to appoint a special prosecutor was still made by the attorney general,

954-546: A rehearing en banc , the D.C. Circuit issued four separate opinions, including one by Bork (again joined by Scalia), who wrote that "no principle had been articulated [by the Supreme Court] that enabled us to determine whether appellant's case fell within or without that principle." In 1986, President Reagan considered nominating Bork to the Supreme Court after Chief Justice Warren Burger retired. Reagan ultimately nominated then- Associate Justice William Rehnquist to be

1060-599: A requirement for a job, while opposing free speech rights for non-political speech and privacy rights for gay conduct. In 1988, an analysis published in The Western Political Quarterly of amicus curiae briefs filed by U.S. Solicitors General during the Warren and Burger courts found that during Bork's tenure in the position during the Nixon and Ford Administrations (1973–1977), Bork took liberal positions in

1166-514: A sailor who had been administratively discharged from the United States Navy for engaging in homosexual conduct . Dronenburg argued that his discharge violated his right to privacy . His argument was rejected in an opinion written by Bork and joined by Antonin Scalia , in which Bork critiqued the line of Supreme Court cases upholding a right to privacy. In rejecting Dronenburg's suggestion for

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1272-721: A sampling error of 2 to 3 per cent. In the days that followed, numerous resolutions of impeachment against the president were introduced in Congress, and the impeachment process against Richard Nixon was underway. However, the House Judiciary Committee did not approve its first article of impeachment until July 27 the following year – more than nine months after the Saturday Night Massacre – when it charged Nixon with obstruction of justice. Two more articles of impeachment quickly followed. Within two weeks, Nixon had made

1378-454: A scholarly work titled The Antitrust Paradox and a work of cultural criticism titled Slouching Towards Gomorrah . From 1973 to 1977, he served as Solicitor General under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford , successfully arguing several cases before the Supreme Court. During the October 1973 Saturday Night Massacre , Bork became acting U.S. Attorney General after his superiors in

1484-547: A special counsel rests with the attorney general (or acting attorney general). The current special counsel regulations specify that: The Attorney General, or in cases in which the Attorney General is recused, the Acting Attorney General, will appoint a Special Counsel when he or she determines that criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted and— The attorney general sets the subject jurisdiction of

1590-512: A special one-time regulation. As part of his investigation, in July of that year, Cox first requested and then subpoenaed the Nixon White House tapes ; secret recordings Nixon had made of conversations in the Oval Office and elsewhere. The Nixon administration refused to produce the tapes citing executive privilege , and the dispute was fought in court until October. After a Court of Appeals instructed

1696-563: A special prosecutor to investigate the Oregon land fraud scandal . In 1924, Calvin Coolidge appointed two special counsels from the two major parties of the time, Atlee Pomerene (a Democrat ) and Owen Roberts (a Republican ), to investigate the Teapot Dome scandal . This appointment was unique in that it was mandated under a special Congressional joint resolution, and was subject to approval in

1802-467: A two-year leave of absence to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War . After law school, Bork spent another year in military service. From 1954 to 1962, he was in private practice at the law firms Kirkland & Ellis and Willkie Farr & Gallagher . In 1962, Bork left private practice and joined the faculty of Yale Law School as a professor. He taught at Yale from 1962 to 1981, with

1908-418: A wait-and-see policy regarding Nixon's role in the scandal, quickly turned on Nixon and initiated impeachment proceedings that would end in Nixon's resignation . The actual origin of the phrase is unknown; it first appeared in writing two days after the events, in a Washington Post article by David S. Broder on October 22, but even in that article, Broder writes that the events were already "being called"

2014-586: Is still our president. But he should not be able to reach out from the muck of Irangate, reach into the muck of Watergate and impose his reactionary vision of the Constitution on the Supreme Court and the next generation of Americans. No justice would be better than this injustice. Bork responded, "There was not a line in that speech that was accurate." In an obituary of Kennedy, The Economist remarked that Bork may well have been correct, "but it worked". Bork contended in his book, The Tempting of America , that

2120-496: The Washington City Paper . Dolan justified accessing the list on the ground that Bork himself had stated that Americans had only such privacy rights as afforded them by direct legislation. The incident led to the enactment of the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act . To pro-choice rights legal groups, Bork's originalist views and his belief that the Constitution did not contain a general "right to privacy" were viewed as

2226-631: The January 6 United States Capitol attack and handling of classified documents . On January 12, 2023, Garland appointed Robert Hur special counsel to investigate Joe Biden 's storage of classified materials. On August 11, 2023 Merrick Garland appointed David C. Weiss special counsel to investigate Joe Biden 's son Hunter Biden stemming from nearly five years of federal investigations into felony tax evasion, illegal foreign lobbying, money laundering, and other possible crimes. This development came shortly after Republicans alleged that Hunter received

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2332-620: The Microsoft litigation . Bork later served as a fellow at the Hudson Institute , a visiting professor at the University of Richmond School of Law and a professor at Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida . In 2011, he worked as a legal adviser for the presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney . Bork is known by American conservatives for his theory that the best way to reconcile

2438-699: The Star route scandal . Cook continued his investigation into the Chester Arthur administration. From 1901 to 1909, during the Theodore Roosevelt administration, special prosecutors were appointed to investigate two scandals. In 1903, Roosevelt appointed two special prosecutors (a Democrat and a Republican) to investigate allegations of bribery at the Post Office Department. In 1905, Roosevelt's attorney general, Philander Knox , appointed Francis Heney as

2544-474: The Supreme Court on July 1, 1987, to replace retiring Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. A hotly contested United States Senate debate over Bork's nomination ensued. Opposition was partly fueled by civil rights and women's rights groups, concerned about Bork's opposition to the authority claimed by the federal government to impose standards of voting fairness upon states (at his confirmation hearings for

2650-654: The U.S. Department of Justice from March 1973 until 1977. As Solicitor General, he argued several high-profile cases before the Supreme Court in the 1970s, including 1974's Milliken v. Bradley , where his brief in support of the State of Michigan was influential among the justices. Chief Justice Warren Burger called Bork the most effective counsel to appear before the court during his tenure. Bork hired many young attorneys as assistants who went on to have successful careers, including judges Danny Boggs and Frank H. Easterbrook as well as Robert Reich , later Secretary of Labor in

2756-425: The U.S. Justice Department chose to resign rather than fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox , who was investigating the Watergate scandal . Following an order from President Nixon, Bork fired Cox as his first assignment as Acting Attorney General. Bork served as Acting Attorney General until January 4, 1974, and was succeeded by Ohio U.S. Senator William B. Saxbe . In 1982, President Reagan appointed Bork to

2862-414: The U.S. Supreme Court , and sparked vigorous debate within legal academia about how to interpret the Constitution. Some conservatives criticized Bork's approach. Conservative scholar Harry Jaffa criticized Bork (along with Rehnquist and Scalia) for failing to adhere to natural law principles, and therefore believing that the Constitution says nothing about abortion or gay rights (Jaffa believed that

2968-562: The University of Chicago , where he was a member of the international social fraternity Phi Gamma Delta and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1948. He then attended the University of Chicago Law School , where he was an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review . He graduated in 1953 with a Juris Doctor and membership in the Order of the Coif and Phi Beta Kappa . While in law school, Bork took

3074-601: The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972. The appointment was created as a career reserved position in the Justice Department, meaning it came under the authority of the attorney general, who could only remove the special prosecutor "for cause", e.g., gross improprieties or malfeasance in office. Richardson had, in his confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate, promised not to use his authority to dismiss

3180-499: The Whiskey Ring scandal. After attempting to stifle Henderson's investigation of the president's personal secretary, Grant fired Henderson on the grounds that Henderson's statements to a grand jury regarding Grant were impertinent. Following criticism, Grant appointed a new special prosecutor, James Broadhead , to continue the investigation. In 1881, James Garfield appointed the next special prosecutor, William Cook, to investigate

3286-579: The Whitewater controversy , the latter of which ultimately led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal . Numerous smaller investigations into cabinet secretaries for relatively minor offenses, such as drug use, were also carried out by independent counsels during this period. During the period 1992–1994 when the independent counsel provisions were not in force, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Robert Fiske special counsel to investigate

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3392-407: The Whitewater controversy . When the law was reauthorized in 1994, Reno invoked it to order an independent counsel be appointed to investigate Whitewater, and suggested Fiske continue in that role. Instead, Ken Starr was given the job by the three-judge panel. Starr resigned and was replaced by Robert Ray in 1999 just before the expiration of the independent counsel statute. Ray formally concluded

3498-484: The antitrust laws were economically irrational and hurt consumers. He posited that the primary focus of antitrust laws should be on consumer welfare, including producer welfare and consumer welfare, rather than ensuring competition, for fostering competition of companies within an industry has a natural built-in tendency to allow, and even help, many poorly run companies with methodologies and practices that are both inefficient and expensive to continue in business simply for

3604-452: The " White House Plumbers ". Continuing Cox's investigation, Jaworski did look at broader corruption involving the White House. While Nixon continued to refuse to turn over the tapes, he agreed to release transcripts of a large number of them. Nixon said he did so partly because any audio pertinent to national security would have to be redacted from the tapes. There was further controversy on November 7 when an 18½-minute portion of one tape

3710-511: The 1870s to investigate presidents and those connected to them, the term can also be used to refer to any prosecutor appointed to avoid a conflict of interest or appearance thereof. The concept originates in state law: "state courts have traditionally appointed special prosecutors when the regular government attorney was disqualified from a case, whether for incapacitation or interest." Because district attorneys' offices work closely with police, some activists argue that cases of police misconduct at

3816-430: The 2016 presidential election by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions . In December 2020, Attorney General William Barr revealed to Congress that John Durham 's investigation had been granted special counsel status on October 19. On November 18, 2022, Attorney General Garland named Jack Smith special counsel to investigate Donald Trump 's actions regarding

3922-460: The Clinton administration. On October 20, 1973, Solicitor General Bork was part of the " Saturday Night Massacre " when President Richard Nixon ordered the firing of Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox following Cox's request for tapes of his Oval Office conversations. Nixon initially ordered U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson resigned rather than carry out

4028-489: The Code of Federal Regulations, Title 28, part 600 (28 CFR §600). The regulations restrict the power to fire the special counsel into the hands of the attorney general alone, and they forbid the firing of the special counsel without good cause. They are internal Department of Justice regulations deriving their power from various acts of Congress, codified at U.S. Code, Title 28, section 510 and 515 (28 U.S.C. 510 and 515). Congress has

4134-494: The Constitution prohibited these things.) Robert P. George explained Jaffa's critique this way: "He attacks Rehnquist and Scalia and Bork for their embrace of legal positivism that is inconsistent with the doctrine of natural rights that is embedded in the Constitution they are supposed to be interpreting." Jaffa attacked Bork as insufficiently conservative. Bork, in turn, described adherents of natural law constitutionalism as fanatical. Bork wrote several books, including

4240-533: The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1987, Reagan nominated Bork to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell . His nomination attracted unprecedented media attention and efforts by interest groups to mobilize opposition to his confirmation, primarily due to his outspoken criticism of the Warren and Burger Courts and his role in the Saturday Night Massacre . His nomination

4346-603: The Democratic members of this committee at my hearing a few weeks ago was an embarrassment. But at least it was just a good old-fashioned attempt at borking." Following his failure to be confirmed, Bork resigned his seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and was for several years both a professor at George Mason University School of Law and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research . He consulted for Netscape in

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4452-629: The FBI's handling of the Waco siege . In 2003, during the George W. Bush administration, Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed special counsel to investigate the Plame affair by Deputy Attorney General James Comey after the recusal of Attorney General John Ashcroft . On May 17, 2017, former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to take over the previous FBI investigation of Russian interference in

4558-551: The Reagan White House, and the accusations went unanswered for 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 months. During debate over his nomination, Bork's video rental history was leaked to the press. His video rental history was unremarkable, and included such harmless titles as A Day at the Races , Ruthless People , and The Man Who Knew Too Much . Writer Michael Dolan, who obtained a copy of the hand-written list of rentals wrote about it for

4664-688: The Saturday Night Massacre. In a 2017 article in The Washington Post , Amy B. Wang attributed the phrase to humorist Art Buchwald , based on the recollection of Sally Quinn . U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson had appointed Cox in May 1973 after promising the House Judiciary Committee that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the events surrounding the break-in of the Democratic National Committee's offices at

4770-427: The Senate was the worst of any Supreme Court nominee since George Washington Woodward was defeated 20–29 in 1845, and the third-worst on record. The seat to which Bork had been nominated went to Judge Anthony Kennedy , who was unanimously approved by the Senate, 97–0. Bork, unhappy with his treatment in the nomination process, resigned his appellate court judgeship in 1988. According to columnist William Safire ,

4876-524: The Senate, similar to a cabinet appointment. This process was unique in the history of federal special prosecutors. In 1952, Harry Truman appointed Newbold Morris as a "special assistant to the Attorney General" to investigate the corruption at the Bureau of Internal Revenue following Congressional pressure and calls for a special prosecutor. After Morris submitted a lengthy questionnaire on personal finances to be completed by all senior executive officers, he

4982-520: The Solicitor General of the United States, Robert Bork , as acting head of the Justice Department, to fire Cox. Both Richardson and Ruckelshaus had given personal assurances to Congressional oversight committees that they would not interfere, but Bork had not. Although Bork later claimed he believed Nixon's order to be valid and appropriate, he still considered resigning to avoid being "perceived as

5088-597: The Special Counsel in writing of the specific reason for their removal. Since the expiration of the independent counsel provisions in the Ethics in Government Act in 1999, as was the case before 1978, neither Congress nor the courts have any official role in the appointment of a special counsel; however, Congress can use other powers to pressure an administration into appointing a special counsel. This happened, for example, in

5194-586: The Special Prosecutor Act and later renamed the Independent Counsel Act, which established formal rules for the appointment of a special prosecutor. The appointment of special prosecutors varied in important ways from appointments made before and since. Majorities of either party within the House or Senate Judiciary Committee could formally request the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor on

5300-490: The Supreme Court under Earl Warren , alleging shoddy and inconsistent reasoning, undue activism , and misuse of historical materials. Bork's critique was harder-edged than Bickel's, writing: "We are increasingly governed not by law or elected representatives but by an unelected, unrepresentative, unaccountable committee of lawyers applying no will but their own." Bork's writings influenced judges such as Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice William Rehnquist of

5406-573: The Watergate special prosecutor unless for cause. When Cox issued a subpoena to Nixon, asking for copies of taped conversations recorded in the Oval Office , the president refused to comply. On October 12, 1973, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the subpoena, rejecting Nixon's claims of executive privilege . On Friday, October 19, Nixon offered what

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5512-526: The Whitewater investigation in 2003. Since the expiration of the independent counsel statute in 1999, there has been no federal statutory law governing the appointment of a special counsel. Upon the law's expiration in 1999, the Justice Department, under Attorney General Janet Reno, promulgated procedural regulations governing the appointment of special counsels. In 1999, these regulations were used by Reno to appoint John Danforth special counsel to investigate

5618-641: The actual selection of the special prosecutor was made by a three-judge panel called the Special Division, selected from the Courts of Appeals. The law did not allow special prosecutors to be removed except under specific circumstances such as wrongdoing or incapacitation. The special prosecutor provisions in the bill were temporary but were reauthorized by Congress in 1983 and 1987, expiring five years later in 1992; they were reinstated for another five years in 1994 before expiring again in 1999. The constitutionality of

5724-767: The aggregate as often as Thurgood Marshall did during the Johnson Administration (1965–1967) and more often than Wade H. McCree did during the Carter Administration (1977–1981), in part because Bork filed briefs in favor of the litigants in civil rights cases 75 percent of the time. Television advertisements produced by People For the American Way and narrated by Gregory Peck attacked Bork as an extremist. Kennedy's speech successfully fueled widespread public skepticism of Bork's nomination. The rapid response to Kennedy's "Robert Bork's America" speech stunned

5830-496: The appointment of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox; senators secured a promise from Attorney General nominee Richardson to appoint a Watergate special prosecutor as a condition of his confirmation. Congress also has independent authority to investigate the president and their close associates through Congressional hearings as part of its government oversight role. Special prosecutors are appointed in state court with greater frequency than federal, and most often in cases where

5936-453: The arguments on this issue made by Supreme Court associate justice Clarence Thomas in his concurrence in the Trump v. United States case decided two weeks earlier. The 1988 Supreme Court case Morrison v. Olson had upheld appointment of special counsels, calling them "inferior officers" and not "officers". Cannon discussed that case, however, arguing that it no longer had any applicability, on

6042-425: The attorney general (or acting attorney general) from using their statutory authority to appoint a special counsel by other means, as has happened twice. Despite the passage of the Ethics in Government Act the previous year, Paul Curran was appointed to investigate Jimmy Carter's peanut business in 1979 under the attorney general's statutory authority (and was selected by him rather than by a three-judge panel as under

6148-584: The brief prepared for then-Senator Joe Biden , Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "so thoroughly misrepresented a plain record that it easily qualifies as world class in the category of scurrility." Opponents of Bork's nomination found the arguments against him justified, claiming that Bork believed the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional, and he supported poll taxes, literacy tests for voting, mandated school prayer, and sterilization as

6254-410: The case was already moot when decided, and the decision was never appealed past the district court . Jaworski continued Cox's pursuit of the White House tapes, but Nixon resisted. He raised separation of powers questions under the U.S. Constitution. Since the special counsel is a member of the executive branch , Nixon argued that the special counsel is ultimately answerable to the president and that

6360-508: The chance to carry out his promise, as the next Supreme Court vacancy came after Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford assumed the presidency , with Ford instead nominating John Paul Stevens following the 1975 retirement of William O. Douglas . Ford planned to nominate Bork to replace William Colby as CIA Director , but his advisors convinced him to turn first to Edward Bennett Williams and then George H. W. Bush instead due to Bork's unpopularity and lack of experience in intelligence. Bork

6466-466: The conference on the importance of defeating the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court , saying: "We're going to bork him. We're going to kill him politically. This little creep, where did he come from?" Thomas was confirmed after the most divisive confirmation hearing in Supreme Court history to that point. In March 2002, the Oxford English Dictionary added an entry for

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6572-486: The criminal law and Department of Justice policies. The Special Counsel shall be selected from outside the United States Government. Special Counsels shall agree that their responsibilities as Special Counsel shall take first precedence in their professional lives, and that it may be necessary to devote their full time to the investigation, depending on its complexity and the stage of the investigation. Generally,

6678-439: The decision to resign; following a televised speech in which he announced his intentions, he did so on August 9, 1974. Nixon felt political pressure to allow Bork to appoint a new special prosecutor, and Bork, with Nixon's approval, chose Leon Jaworski . There was a question whether Jaworski would limit his investigation to the Watergate break-in or follow Cox's lead and look into other corrupt activities, such as those involving

6784-459: The executive branch of Government, almost executive supremacy", most notably, according to critics, for his role in the Saturday Night Massacre . Before Justice Powell's expected retirement on June 27, 1987, some Senate Democrats had asked liberal leaders to "form a 'solid phalanx' of opposition" if President Reagan nominated an "ideological extremist" to replace him, assuming it would tilt the court rightward. Democrats warned Reagan there would be

6890-612: The first published use of "bork" as a verb was possibly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of August 20, 1987, two months prior to the final vote: "Let's just hope something enduring results for the justice-to-be, like a new verb: Borked." A well known use of the verb "to bork" occurred in July 1991 at a conference of the National Organization for Women in New York City. Feminist Florynce Kennedy addressed

6996-456: The fourth and final Watergate special prosecutor. Acting under his existing appointment as Watergate special prosecutor, Ruff conducted an unrelated investigation into whether Gerald Ford had misused campaign funds while a congressman, clearing the new president of any wrongdoing. Inspired in part by Watergate, in 1978 Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act . Title VI of this act was known as

7102-441: The good of the Justice Department. Bork remained Acting Attorney General until the appointment of William B. Saxbe on January 4, 1974. In his posthumously published memoirs, Bork claimed that after he carried out the order, Nixon promised him the next seat on the Supreme Court, though Bork did not take the offer seriously as he believed Watergate had left Nixon too politically compromised to appoint another justice. Nixon never had

7208-544: The grounds that it concerned special counsels appointed under the special statutory authority of the Independent Counsels Act, which law Congress had since allowed to expire, and hence Smith's appointment was not made under it. In 1999, the Department of Justice under Attorney General Janet Reno promulgated regulations for the future appointment of special counsels. As of 2018 , these regulations remain in effect in

7314-534: The law was affirmed by a 7–1 decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Morrison v. Olson . Roughly twenty special prosecutors (called independent counsels after 1983) were appointed under the Ethics in Government Act and its reauthorizations during the Jimmy Carter , Ronald Reagan , George H. W. Bush , and Bill Clinton administrations. These include significant investigations into the Iran–Contra affair and

7420-470: The law), ostensibly because the alleged wrongdoing preceded the passage of the act. Patrick Fitzgerald's appointment as special counsel in 2003 was specifically not made under the 28 CFR 600 regulation. The special counsel regulations specify that a special counsel must be a lawyer from outside the US government, while Fitzgerald was already a federal prosecutor at the time of his appointment. The decision to appoint

7526-442: The less confrontational 'independent counsel' in the 1983 reauthorization of the Ethics in Government Act. Those appointed under that act after 1983 are generally referred to as 'independent counsels'. Since the independent counsel law expired in 1999, the term 'special counsel' has been used. This is the term used in the current U.S. government regulations concerning the appointment of special counsels, such as Title 28 CFR . While

7632-494: The matter being investigated and/or prosecuted. The choice of whom to appoint is to be made by the attorney general with the following guidelines: An individual named as Special Counsel shall be a lawyer with a reputation for integrity and impartial decisionmaking, and with appropriate experience to ensure both that the investigation will be conducted ably, expeditiously and thoroughly, and that investigative and prosecutorial decisions will be supported by an informed understanding of

7738-536: The next Chief Justice and Bork's D.C. Circuit colleague, Antonin Scalia , for Rehnquist's Associate Justice seat. Some journalists and correspondents believed that if Reagan nominated Bork in 1986, Bork would have likely reached the Supreme Court, for the Senate at that time was led by the Republicans. However, the Senate Democrats might still have fought to defeat Bork in 1986, and the Republicans' Senate majority at

7844-441: The next seat on the Supreme Court following Bork's role in firing Cox. Nixon was unable to carry out that promise, but President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork for the Supreme Court in 1987; his nomination nevertheless failed in the Senate. The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 was a direct result of the Saturday Night Massacre. Special counsel While the most prominent special prosecutors have been those appointed since

7950-434: The order. Richardson's top deputy, Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus , also considered the order "fundamentally wrong" and resigned, making Bork Acting Attorney General. When Nixon reiterated his order, Bork complied and fired Cox. Bork claimed he carried out the order under pressure from Nixon's attorneys and intended to resign immediately afterward, but was persuaded by Richardson and Ruckelshaus to stay on for

8056-523: The position of solicitor general, he supported the rights of Southern states to impose a poll tax ), and his stated desire to roll back civil rights decisions of the Warren and Burger courts. Bork is one of four Supreme Court nominees (along with William Rehnquist , Samuel Alito , and Brett Kavanaugh ) to have been opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union . Bork was criticized for being an "advocate of disproportionate powers for

8162-405: The power to directly limit the firing of special prosecutors or to delegate that power to the Attorney General. An agency regulation promulgated within the authority granted by statute has the force and effect of law, is binding upon the body that issues it, and can not be arbitrarily revoked. The existence of a law or regulations specifying the process to appoint a special counsel has not stopped

8268-453: The president could not be compelled by a subpoena issued by his own subordinate. The tapes were ultimately released following the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Nixon . Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, and Jaworski resigned about two and a half months later, to be replaced by his (and Cox's) deputy, Henry Ruth Jr.—who in turn resigned in 1975, leaving Charles Ruff

8374-435: The president to comply with the special prosecutor's subpoena, Nixon ordered the special prosecutor fired. In a constitutional crisis that became known as the Saturday Night Massacre , both the attorney general and deputy attorney general (who had both made promises regarding the special prosecutor in their Senate confirmation hearings) resigned rather than carry out the order to fire Cox. Solicitor General Robert Bork , who

8480-473: The prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel." The current special counsel regulations specify that: The Special Counsel may be disciplined or removed from office only by the personal action of the Attorney General. The Attorney General may remove a Special Counsel for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies. The Attorney General shall inform

8586-500: The regulation establishing the special prosecutor's office. Congress was infuriated by what it saw as a gross abuse of presidential power – as were many Americans, who sent an unusually large number of telegrams to the White House and Congress in protest. Less than a week after the Saturday Night Massacre, an Oliver Quayle poll for NBC News indicated that, for the first time, a plurality of U.S. citizens supported impeaching Nixon, with 44% in favor, 43% opposed, and 13% undecided, with

8692-460: The role of the courts is to frame "neutral principles" (a term borrowed from Herbert Wechsler ) and not simply ad hoc pronouncements or subjective value judgments. Bork once said, "The truth is that the judge who looks outside the Constitution always looks inside himself and nowhere else." Bork built on the influential critiques of the Warren Court authored by Alexander Bickel , who criticized

8798-546: The role of the judiciary in the U.S. government against what he terms the " Madisonian " or "counter-majoritarian" dilemma of the judiciary making law without popular approval is for constitutional adjudication to be guided by the framers' original understanding of the United States Constitution . Reiterating that it is a court's task to adjudicate and not to "legislate from the bench," he advocated that judges exercise restraint in deciding cases, emphasizing that

8904-499: The sake of competition, to the detriment of both consumers and society. Bork's writings on antitrust law, with those of Richard Posner and other law and economics and Chicago School thinkers, have been influential in causing a shift in the Supreme Court's approach to antitrust laws since the 1970s. Bork also supports using anticompetitive practices within the text as useful business practices. (e.g. exclusive deals, mergers, price fixing, etc.) Bork served as Solicitor General in

9010-402: The special counsel him or herself decides when an investigation will terminate, with or without formal charges being pursued. The special counsel typically issues a final report on their investigation at this time. The current special counsel regulations specify that "At the conclusion of the Special Counsel's work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining

9116-561: The special counsel: The jurisdiction of a Special Counsel shall be established by the Attorney General. The Special Counsel will be provided with a specific factual statement of the matter to be investigated. The jurisdiction of a Special Counsel shall also include the authority to investigate and prosecute federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, the Special Counsel's investigation, such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses; and to conduct appeals arising out of

9222-409: The state and local level should be handled by special prosecutors. The terms 'special prosecutor', 'independent counsel', and 'special counsel' have the same fundamental meaning, and their use (at least at the federal level in the U.S.) is generally differentiated by the time period to which they are being applied. The term 'special prosecutor' was used throughout the Watergate era, but was replaced by

9328-417: The term 'special prosecutor' is sometimes used in historical discussions of such figures before 1983, the term 'special counsel' appears to have been frequently used as well, including, for example, in contemporary newspaper accounts describing the first presidentially-appointed special counsel in 1875. In 1875, Ulysses Grant appointed the first federal special prosecutor, John B. Henderson , to investigate

9434-409: The terms "special counsel" and "independent counsel" have a uniform definition, in state court meanings of legal terms continually vary, but with "special prosecutor" referencing the appointment of an attorney (supra) in contemplation of representation and prosecution of one or more government agent(s) for unlawful conduct. Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012)

9540-507: The third-most-senior official at the Justice Department, Solicitor General Robert Bork , to fire Cox. Bork carried out the dismissal as Nixon asked. Bork stated that he intended to resign afterward, but was persuaded by Richardson and Ruckelshaus to stay on for the good of the Justice Department. The political and public reactions to Nixon's actions were negative and highly damaging to the president. The impeachment process against Nixon began ten days later, on October 30, 1973. Leon Jaworski

9646-579: The time was narrow (53–47), which implies that maybe Bork still would have been defeated in 1986, especially when the six Republicans who voted against Bork's 1987 nomination were not first elected in the November 1986 Senate elections . Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other President Reagan nominated Bork for associate justice of

9752-456: The two best-sellers The Tempting of America , about his judicial philosophy and his nomination battle, and Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline , in which he argued that the rise of the New Left in the 1960s in the U.S. undermined the moral standards necessary for civil society , and spawned a generation of intellectuals who oppose Western civilization . During

9858-408: The verb "bork" as U.S. political slang, with this definition: "To defame or vilify (a person) systematically, esp. in the mass media, usually to prevent his or her appointment to public office; to obstruct or thwart (a person) in this way." Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh used the term during his own contentious Senate confirmation hearing testimony, when he stated: "The behavior of several of

9964-522: The whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is—and is often the only—protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy. ... The damage that President Reagan will do through this nomination, if it is not rejected by the Senate, could live on far beyond the end of his presidential term. President Reagan

10070-446: Was a circuit judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1982 to 1988. He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on December 7, 1981, was confirmed via voice vote by the Senate on February 8, 1982, and received his commission on February 9, 1982. One of Bork's opinions while on the D.C. Circuit was Dronenburg v. Zech , 741 F.2d 1388, decided in 1984. The case involved James L. Dronenburg,

10176-502: Was an American legal scholar who served as solicitor general of the United States from 1973 until 1977. A professor by training, he was acting United States Attorney General and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1982 to 1988. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court , but the Senate rejected his nomination after a contentious and highly publicized confirmation hearing . Bork

10282-457: Was appointed as the new special prosecutor on November 1, 1973, and on November 14, 1973, United States District Judge Gerhard Gesell ruled that the dismissal had been illegal. The Saturday Night Massacre marked the turning point of the Watergate scandal as the public, while increasingly uncertain about Nixon's actions in Watergate, were incensed by Nixon's seemingly blatant attempt to end the Watergate probe, while Congress , having largely taken

10388-707: Was born in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, and received both his undergraduate and legal education at the University of Chicago . After working at the law firms of Kirkland & Ellis and Willkie Farr & Gallagher , he served as a professor at Yale Law School. He became a prominent advocate of originalism , calling for judges to adhere to the original understanding of the United States Constitution , and an influential antitrust scholar, arguing that consumers often benefited from corporate mergers and that antitrust law should focus on consumer welfare rather than on ensuring competition . Bork wrote several notable books, including

10494-597: Was born on March 1, 1927, in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania. He was the only child of Harry Philip Bork Jr. (1897–1974), a steel company purchasing agent, and Elizabeth ( née Kunkle; 1898–2004), a schoolteacher. His father was of German and Irish ancestry, while his mother was of Pennsylvania German descent. Bork attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut . He later recalled that he spent his time there "reading books and arguing with people". He then attended

10600-490: Was disallowed by Article II Section 2 Clause 2, which requires principal officers to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Therefore, she dismissed the classified documents case that a grand jury under Smith had brought against former president Donald Trump. Smith's office announced that it would appeal the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit . Cannon's ruling adopted

10706-459: Was fired by Attorney General Howard McGrath , who was in turn fired by the president. Following the appointment of a new attorney general, the investigation was continued through regular channels. Before his May 25, 1973 appointment as Richard Nixon 's attorney general, Elliott Richardson had agreed at his Senate confirmation hearing to appoint a Watergate special prosecutor, and so immediately on taking office appointed Archibald Cox under

10812-473: Was fired, Cox's deputy prosecutor and press aides held an impassioned news briefing and read the following statement from him, "Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people [to decide]." On November 14, 1973, federal district judge Gerhard Gesell ruled firing Cox was illegal absent a finding of extraordinary impropriety as specified in

10918-575: Was found to have been erased. Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods , said she had accidentally erased the tape by pushing the wrong foot pedal on her tape player while answering the phone. Later forensic analysis determined that the tape had been erased in several segments – at least five, and perhaps as many as nine. Nixon's presidency succumbed to mounting pressure resulting from the Watergate scandal and its cover-up. Faced with almost certain impeachment and conviction, Nixon resigned. In his posthumously published memoirs, Bork said Nixon promised him

11024-716: Was later known as the Stennis Compromise – asking the infamously hard-of-hearing Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi to review and summarize the tapes for the special prosecutor's office. Cox refused the compromise that same evening, and it was believed that there would be a short rest in the legal maneuvering while government offices were closed for the weekend. However, on the following day (Saturday), Nixon ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned in protest. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused and resigned. Nixon then ordered

11130-458: Was third in line at the Department of Justice, then fired Cox. Initially, the Nixon White House announced that the office of the special prosecutor had been abolished, but after public outcry Nixon instead had Bork appoint Leon Jaworski as the second Watergate special prosecutor. The firing was ruled illegal in the case of Nader v. Bork , but, as a new special prosecutor had already been appointed,

11236-489: Was ultimately rejected in the Senate, 42–58, and the vacancy was filled by Anthony Kennedy . Bork resigned from his judgeship in 1988, taking up a career as an author. He served as a professor at various institutions, including the George Mason University School of Law . He advised presidential candidate Mitt Romney , and was a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and at the Hudson Institute . Bork

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