Ken Starr
Kenneth Winston Starr (July 21, 1946 – September 13, 2022) was an American lawyer and judge who as independent counsel authored the Starr Report, which served as the basis of the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an investigation of members of the Clinton administration, known as the Whitewater controversy, from 1994 to 1998. Starr previously served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989 and as the U.S. solicitor general from 1989 to 1993 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush.
For other people with similar names, see Ken Starr (disambiguation).
Ken Starr
Robert B. Fiske (Special Counsel)
Robert B. Sloan (2006)
Robert B. Sloan (2006)
Position abolished
David E. Garland (acting)
David E. Garland (acting)
Charles Nelson
Tom Bost
September 13, 2022 (aged 76)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Democratic (before 1975)
Republican (1975–2022)
3
Starr received the most public attention for his tenure as independent counsel while Bill Clinton was U.S. president. Starr was initially appointed to investigate the suicide of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster and the Whitewater real estate investments of Clinton. The three-judge panel charged with administering the Ethics in Government Act later expanded the inquiry into numerous areas including suspected perjury about Clinton's sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky. After more than four years of investigation, Starr filed the Starr Report, which alleged that Clinton lied about the existence of the affair during a sworn deposition. The allegation led to the impeachment of Clinton and the five-year suspension of Clinton's Arkansas law license.
Starr served as the dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law.[1][2][3] He was later both the president and the chancellor of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, from June 2010 until May and June 2016, respectively, and at the same time the Louise L. Morrison chair of constitutional law at Baylor Law School. On May 26, 2016, following an investigation into the mishandling by Starr of several sexual assaults at the school, Baylor University's board of regents announced that Starr's tenure as university president would end on May 31.[4] The board said he would continue as chancellor, but on June 1, Starr resigned that position with immediate effect.[5] On August 19, 2016, Starr announced he would also resign from his tenured professor position at Baylor Law School, completely severing his ties with the university in a "mutually agreed separation",[6] following accusations that he ignored allegations of sexual assault on campus.[4] On January 17, 2020, Starr joined President Donald Trump's legal team during his first impeachment trial.[7][8]
Early life and education[edit]
Starr was born near Vernon, Texas, the son of Vannie Maude (Trimble) and Willie D. Starr, and was raised in Centerville, Texas.[9][10] His father was a minister in the Churches of Christ who also worked as a barber.[11] Starr attended Sam Houston High School in San Antonio and was a popular, straight‑A student. His classmates voted him most likely to succeed.[12][13] In 1970, Starr married Alice Mendell, who was raised Jewish but converted to Christianity.[14][15][16] They had three children.[17]
Starr attended the Churches of Christ–affiliated Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, where he was an honor student, a member of the Young Democrats,[12] and a vocal supporter of Vietnam protesters.[18] He later transferred to George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., where he received a Bachelor of Arts in history, in 1968. While there, he became a member of Delta Phi Epsilon.[19]
Starr was not drafted for military service during the Vietnam War, as he was classified 4‑F, because he had psoriasis.[20] He worked in the Southwestern Advantage entrepreneurial program and later attended Brown University, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1969. Starr then attended the Duke University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Duke Law Journal and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1973.[21]
Legal career[edit]
After he graduated from law school, Starr was a law clerk to judge David W. Dyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1973 to 1974.[16] From 1975 to 1977, he clerked for chief justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court.[16]
In 1977, Starr joined the Washington, D.C., office of the Los Angeles–based law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (now Gibson Dunn).[22] In 1981 he was appointed counselor to U.S. attorney general William French Smith.[16]
Starr was a member of the Federalist Society.[23]
Early 1990s[edit]
When the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics needed someone to review Republican senator Bob Packwood's diaries, the committee chose Starr.[25] 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 Starr might not be reliably conservative as a Supreme Court justice. George H. W. Bush nominated David Souter instead of Starr.[26] 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.[27]
Death[edit]
Starr died on September 13, 2022, at the Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston of complications from surgery, at the age of 76.[38][82]