I guess Congress can now resume using its constitutionally mandated investigative power...

Ha! I knew I couldn't type that with a straight face.

AP: Independent counsel era to come to end

The post-Watergate era of independent counsels, the investigators whose criminal probes affected the fortunes of Republican and Democratic administrations alike, is officially coming to a close.

A two-paragraph order signed by a federal appeals court clerk on March 31 marks the demise of the last of the court-appointed prosecutors.
Independent counsel David Barrett, who spent a decade and $20 million investigating former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros, must complete his duties "on or before May 3," the order states.

Cisneros pleaded guilty in 1999 to a misdemeanor of lying to the
FBI about payments to a former mistress when he was answering questions following his nomination for the Cabinet-level post. But Barrett kept investigating, contending in a final report in January that the Justice Department and IRS blocked his efforts to probe possible Cisneros tax violations.

The duration of Barrett's probe is an illustration of why many in Congress grew disenchanted with a process designed to protect prosecutors from political interference in inquiries into high-level administration wrongdoing.

Independent Counsel Ken Starr's probe of the Monica Lewinsky scandal led to the impeachment of President Clinton by the Republican-controlled House. Starr and his successor were on the job for 6 1/2 years of Clinton's eight years in office.

Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh spent seven years investigating the
Iran-Contra scandal, which led to the indictment of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, Lt. Col. Oliver North, former National Security Adviser John Poindexter and others in the administration of President Reagan.

The first President Bush, who probably would have had to testify at Weinberger's trial, pardoned him weeks before the case was to begin.
And in the Cisneros probe, Clinton pardoned his former housing secretary.