# Should Congress revive the Independent Counsel statute? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 22, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-congress-revive-the-independent-counsel-statute/397098 "2007-03-22T23:03:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-congress-revive-the-independent-counsel-statute/397098/1 "2007-03-22T23:03:12Z")
As noted in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=413195) thread, if Rove or Miers should fail to comply with a Congressional subpoena, they can be prosecuted for contempt of Congress. Then the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia would ask a grand jury for an indictment – except that that official reports to AG Gonzalez, who might give orders not to proceed. A sticky conflict of interest. One way to cut the knot would be the appointment of an [Independent Counsel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Office_of_the_Independent_Counsel) – but the authorizing statute expired in 1999. Maybe now would be a good time for Congress to revive the office? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-congress-revive-the-independent-counsel-statute/397098/2 "2007-03-22T23:51:39Z")
That’s what I’m hoping for. It should be obvious after the whole hullabaloo we’ve gone through in the last few weeks that any enforcement of oversight that’s trusted to Gonzalez’s DoJ is pretty much a waste of time. Especially when it’s going to come under the auspices of what’s practically the home office.