Ken Starr, the impartial counsel within the Nineties who investigated President Clinton, died this week in Houston at age 76, and the historical past to grasp is that what Democrats blame him for was in the end Mr. Clinton’s doing. Starr was a formidable lawyer: an appellate decide, a U.S. Solicitor Common, a reputable contender for a Supreme Court docket seat.

In 1994 he accepted the no-win job of impartial counsel on the Whitewater investigation into the Clintons’ real-estate dealings. The identical 12 months, Paula Jones sued Mr. Clinton for sexual harassment. Finally a judicial panel and Lawyer Common Janet Reno agreed to increase Starr’s remit. “I used to be assigned to do a job by the legal professional basic,” he mentioned in 1998, “and that was to seek out out whether or not crimes have been dedicated on this sexual harassment lawsuit.”