Ken Starr, the former federal judge, solicitor general, and independent counsel who led the probe that resulted in former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, passed away at the age of 76 on Tuesday.
After being chosen to serve as independent counsel in 1994, Starr led an investigation into the Clinton family’s alleged involvement in financial wrongdoing with the Whitewater Land Company. Eventually, Starr uncovered a scandal between the president and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky that led to the former’s impeachment.
After Starr came into possession of a taped conversation in which Lewinsky revealed that she had a sexual relationship with Clinton and the the president denied that conduct under oath in a sworn deposition, Starr convened a federal grand jury to examine whether Clinton had committed perjury or obstructed justice in an effort to cover up his deception. Clinton had testified that that he never had a “sexual relationship,” “sexual affair,” or “sexual relations” with Lewinsky.
In Clinton’s deposition, he claimed that “there’s nothing going on between us,” a statement he upheld before the grand jury months later, adding that he believed oral sex did not constitute “sexual relations.”
In his final report, Starr laid out eleven possible grounds for the impeachment of Clinton, including concealing the truth about his activities with Lewinsky in multiple contexts. Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives, but escaped removal from office when the Senate failed to convict him.
Starr later served as the president of Baylor University from June 2010 until May 2016.
Prior to being appointed independent counsel, he was nominated and confirmed to serve on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, but left the bench in 1989 to become solicitor general under President George H.W. Bush.
In an obituary published by his family, Starr’s children wrote that they “are deeply saddened with the loss of our dear and loving Father and Grandfather, whom we admired for his prodigious work ethic, but who always put his family first.”