Early life

Ken Starr was born near Vernon, Texas, and was raised in Centerville. His father was a minister in the Churches of Christ who also worked as a barber. Starr attended Sam Houston High School in San Antonio and was a popular, straight‑A student. He was voted most likely to succeed by his classmates.

In 1970, Starr married Alice Mendell, who was raised Jewish but converted to Christianity.

Education

Starr first attended the Church of Christ-affiliated Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, where he was an honor student, a member of the Young Democrats club, and a vocal supporter of Vietnam protesters. He later transferred to The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he received his bachelor of arts degree in history in 1968. During his time at The George Washington University, Starr was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon, the national professional foreign service fraternity. Starr worked for the Southwestern Company. He later attended Brown University where he earned master's degree in 1969 and then went to Duke University School of Law, earning his J.D. in 1973. Starr was not drafted for military service during the Vietnam War, as he was classified 4‑F, because of a case of psoriasis.

Legal career

After his graduation from Duke, Starr first was a law clerk for U.S. Circuit Judge David W. Dyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1973-74), then for Chief Justice Warren Burger (1975-77).

He joined the Washington, D.C., office of the Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher in 1977 and was appointed counselor to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith in 1981.

Federal judge and solicitor general

Starr was nominated for a judgeship on United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Ronald Reagan and served from 1983 to 1989. He was the United States Solicitor General from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush.

Early 1990s

When the Senate Ethics Committee needed someone to review Republican Senator Bob Packwood's diaries, the committee chose Starr. In 1990, Starr was the leading candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court nomination after William Brennan's retirement. He encountered strong resistance from the Department of Justice leadership, which feared that Starr might not be reliably conservative as a Supreme Court justice. President George H. W. Bush nominated David Souter instead of Starr. Starr also considered running for the United States Senate from Virginia in 1994 against incumbent Chuck Robb, but opted against opposing Oliver North for the Republican nomination.

Independent counsel

Main article: Whitewater controversy

Appointment

In August 1994, pursuant to the newly reauthorized Ethics in Government Act (28 U.S.C. § 593(b)), Starr was appointed by a special three-judge division of the D.C. Circuit to continue the Whitewater investigation. He replaced Robert B. Fiske, a moderate Republican who had been appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno. Although Starr and other independent counsels were later criticized as unaccountable and unstoppable, the statute gave the attorney general and the Special Division the authority to remove an independent counsel.

Starr took the position part-time and remained active with his law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, as this was permitted by statute and was also the norm with previous independent counsel investigations. As time went on, however, Starr was increasingly criticized for alleged conflicts of interest stemming from his continuing association with Kirkland & Ellis. Kirkland, like several other major law firms, was representing clients in litigation with the government, including tobacco companies and auto manufacturers. The firm itself was being sued by the Resolution Trust Company, a government agency involved in the Whitewater matter. Additionally, Starr's own actions were challenged because Starr had, on one occasion, talked with lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing President Clinton over an alleged sexual assault. Starr had explained to them why he believed that sitting U.S. presidents are not immune to civil suit.

Investigation of the death of Vince Foster

Main articles: Vince Foster and Arkansas Project

On October 10, 1997, Starr's report on the death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster, drafted largely by Starr's deputy Brett Kavanaugh, was released to the public by the Special Division. The complete report is 137 pages and includes the appendix added to the Report by the Special Division over the objection of Kenneth Starr. The report agrees with the findings of previous independent counsel Robert B. Fiske that Foster committed suicide at Fort Marcy Park, in Virginia, and that his suicide was caused primarily by undiagnosed and untreated depression. As CNN explained on February 28, 1997, "The report refutes claims by conservative political organizations that Foster was the victim of a murder plot and coverup," but "despite those findings, right-wing political groups have continued to allege that there was more to the death and that the president and first lady tried to cover it up." CNN also noted that organizations pushing the murder theory included the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, owned by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, and Accuracy in Media, supported in part by Scaife's foundation. Scaife's reporter on the Whitewater matter, Christopher Ruddy, was a frequent critic of Starr's handling of the case.

Expansion of the investigation

The law conferred broad investigative powers on Starr and the other independent counsels named to investigate the administration, including the right to subpoena nearly anyone who might have information relevant to the particular investigation. Starr would later receive authority to conduct additional investigations, including the firing of White House Travel Office personnel, potential political abuse of confidential FBI files, Madison Guaranty, Rose Law Firm, Paula Jones law suit and, most notoriously, possible perjury and obstruction of justice to cover up President Clinton's sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The Lewinsky portion of the investigation included the secret taping of conversations between Lewinsky and coworker Linda Tripp, requests by Starr to tape Lewinsky's conversations with Clinton, and requests by Starr to compel Secret Service agents to testify about what they might have seen while guarding Clinton. With the investigation of Clinton's possible adultery, critics of Starr believed that he had crossed a line and was acting more as a political hit man than as a prosecutor.

Lewinsky scandal, Paula Jones lawsuit

Main articles: Lewinsky scandal and Clinton v. Jones

In his deposition for the Paula Jones lawsuit, Clinton denied having "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky. On the basis of the evidence provided by Linda Tripp, a blue dress with Clinton's semen, Ken Starr concluded that this sworn testimony was false and perjurious.

During the deposition in the Jones case, Clinton was asked, "Have you ever had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, as that term is defined in Deposition Exhibit 1, as modified by the Court?" The definition included contact with the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of a person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of that person, any contact of the genitals or anus of another person, or contact of one's genitals or anus and any part of another person's body either directly or through clothing. The judge ordered that Clinton be given an opportunity to review the agreed definition. Clinton flatly denied having sexual relations with Lewinsky. Later, at the Starr grand jury, Clinton stated that he believed the definition of "sexual relations" agreed upon for the Jones deposition excluded his receiving oral sex.

Starr's investigation eventually led to the impeachment of President Clinton, with whom Starr shared Time's Man of the Year designation for 1998. Despite his impeachment, the president was acquitted in the subsequent trial before the United States Senate as all 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted to acquit.

Second thoughts on DOJ request

In 2004, Starr expressed regret for ever having asked the Department of Justice to assign him to oversee the Lewinsky investigation personally, saying, "the most fundamental thing that could have been done differently" would have been for somebody else to have investigated the matter.

Criticism and political satire

As with many controversial figures, Kenneth Starr has been the subject of political satire. James Carville's book, And the Horse He Rode In On, attempted to cast Starr's time as special prosecutor in a negative light.

Post-independent counsel activities

After five years as independent counsel, Starr resigned and returned to private practice as an appellate lawyer and a visiting professor at New York University, the Chapman University School of Law, and the George Mason University School of Law. Starr worked as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in litigation. He was one of the lead attorneys in a class-action lawsuit filed by a coalition of liberal and conservative groups (including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association) against the regulations created by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, known informally as McCain-Feingold Act. In the case, Starr argued that the law was an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech.

On April 6, 2004, he was appointed dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law. He originally accepted a position at Pepperdine as the first dean of the newly created School of Public Policy in 1996; however, he withdrew from the appointment in 1998, several months after the Lewinsky controversy erupted. Critics charged that there was a conflict of interest due to substantial donations to Pepperdine from billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, a Clinton critic who funded many media outlets attacking the president. (Scaife's money, however, supported the Foster-was-murdered theory, according to CNN, and Scaife defunded The American Spectator after it endorsed Starr's conclusion of suicide and mocked a Scaife-aided book.) In 2004, some five years after President Clinton's impeachment, Starr was again offered a Pepperdine position at the School of Law and this time accepted it.

Death penalty cases

In 2005, Starr worked to overturn the death sentence of Robin Lovitt, who was on Virginia's death row for murdering a man during a robbery in 1998. Starr provided his services to Lovitt pro bono. On October 3, 2005, the Supreme Court denied certiorari. (Lovitt was granted clemency and had his sentence commuted to life in prison without parole, on November 29, 2005, by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia.)

On January 26, 2006, the defense team of convicted murderer Michael Morales (which included Starr) sent letters to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger requesting clemency for Morales. Letters purporting to be from the jurors who determined Morales's death sentence were included in the package sent to Schwarzenegger. However, prosecutors alleged that the documents were forgeries, and accused investigator and anti-death penalty activist Kathleen Culhane of falsifying the documents. Lead defense attorney David Senior and his team soon withdrew the documents. Ultimately, clemency was denied, but the falsified documents were not used in the rationale. Eventually, Culhane was criminally charged with forging the documents and, under a plea agreement, was sentenced to five years in prison.

Sarbanes-Oxley

Ken Starr announced that he would challenge the portion of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that gives authority to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).

Morse v. Frederick

Main article: Morse v. Frederick

On May 4, 2006, Starr announced that he would represent the school board of Juneau, Alaska, in its appeal to the United States Supreme Court in a case brought by a former student, Joseph Frederick. The former student unfurled a banner at a school sponsored event saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as the Olympic torch was passing through Juneau, before arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The board decided to suspend the student. The student then sued and won at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which stated that the board violated the student's first amendment right to free speech. On August 28, 2006, Starr filed a writ of certiorari for a hearing with the Supreme Court. On June 21, 2007, in an opinion authored by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, the court ruled in favor of Starr's client, finding that "a principal may, consistent with the First Amendment, restrict student speech at a school event, when that speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use."

Blackwater Security Consulting v. Nordan (No. 06-857)

Starr continues to represent Blackwater in a case involving the deaths of four unarmed civilians killed by Blackwater contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, in March 2004.

California Proposition 8 post-election lawsuits

Main article: Lawsuits to overturn Proposition 8

On December 19, 2008, Proposition 8 supporters named Starr to represent them in post-election lawsuits to be heard by the Supreme Court of California. Opponents of the measure sought to overturn it as a violation of fundamental rights, while supporters sought to invalidate the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in the state before Proposition 8 passed. Oral arguments took place on March 5, 2009, in San Francisco.

Starr argued that "Prop. 8 was a modest measure that left the rights of same-sex couples undisturbed under California's domestic-partner laws and other statutes banning discrimination based on sexual orientation," to the agreement of most of the judges. The main issue that arose during the oral argument included the meaning of the word "inalienable," and to which extent this word goes when used in Article I of the Californian Constitution. Christopher Krueger of the attorney general's office said that inalienable rights may not be stripped away by the initiative process. Starr countered that "rights are important, but they don't go to structure . . . rights are ultimately defined by the people."

The court ultimately held that the measure was valid and effective, but would not be applied retroactively to marriages performed prior to its enactment.

Defense of Jeffrey Epstein

In 2007, Starr joined the legal team of Palm Beach millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was criminally accused of the statutory rape of numerous underaged high school students. Epstein would later plea bargain to plead guilty to several charges of soliciting prostitutes and serve 13 months in a private wing of the Palm Beach jail.

Support for Christopher Kloman

In 2013, Starr was among many high profile figures to express support for Christopher Kloman, a 74-year-old retired teacher at the Potomac School who pleaded guilty to molesting five female students over a period from 1966 to 1985. Starr signed a letter, written by his wife Alice, to the Fairfax County, Virginia judge presiding over the case. The letter asked for leniency for Kloman, who is a friend of the Starr family and who "took the time to chat" with Starr's daughter, a student at the school until 1998. "Community service would a far better punishment than having him languish in jail," they wrote.

President of Baylor University

Starr was The Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law at Pepperdine University, when on February 15, 2010, Baylor University announced that it would introduce Starr as its newest president. Starr became Baylor's 14th president, replacing John Lilley who was ousted in mid‑2008 (interim presidents are not counted in the list of Baylor's presidents). Starr was introduced as the new president on June 1, 2010.

His inauguration was held on September 17, 2010, where Stephen L. Carter was the keynote speaker. Within his first two weeks in office, Starr was "leading the charge" to keep the university in the Big 12 Conference for athletics. Starr was named chancellor of Baylor in November 2013, a post that had been vacant since 2005. He became the first person to hold the positions of president and chancellor at Baylor at the same time.

In September 2015, Baylor's Board of Regents initiated an external review of the university's response to reports of sexual violence to be conducted by Pepper Hamilton law firm. Pepper Hamilton returned their investigation to the university on May 13 which was reviewed by the board, resulting in Starr's removal as university president effective May 31. Starr continues to hold his other positions at Baylor's Law School and contonues as Chancellor under terms that had not been fully resolved. The regents believed that the blame for the school’s failure in handling rape and sexual assault reports falls on Starr, according to the report. Baylor is accused of failing to respond to reports of rape and/or sexual assault filed by at least six female students from 2009 to 2016. Two former football players, Tevin Elliott and Sam Ukwuachu, have been convicted of rape. Elliot is currently serving a 20-year sentence after his conviction in January 2014.

Published works

• First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life. Grand Central Publishing. 2002. ISBN 978-0446527569.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]