Kenneth Starr, 76, has passed away from surgical complications at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston. Starr had a prolific career in law, politics, and academics, but he will always be best known for serving as the special counsel whose investigation of Clinton real estate deals in the Whitewater scandal uncovered President Bill Clinton’s infamous affair with a White House intern.
Starr had a long and consequential career of political, legal, and academic service. Early on, he clerked for former Chief Justice Warren Burger. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan nominated Starr to a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Starr resigned the post after six years to become solicitor general; current Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts served as his principal deputy in that office.
After his 1990s investigation of the Whitewater scandal, Starr went on to work both as a partner in a law firm and a professor of law. He taught at Pepperdine University, New York University School of Law, George Mason University School of Law, and Chapman Law School. Starr rounded out his academic career with a six-year stint as president and chancellor of Baylor University, which he left in 2016.
In January of 2020, Starr successfully defended President Donald Trump in his Senate trial against one of the Democrat-controlled House’s politicized impeachments.
Kenneth Starr was born on July 21, 1946, in Vernon, Texas. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Alice Mendell Starr, their three children, and nine grandchildren.
The Whitewater Investigation
In 1986, federal regulators began to investigate sketchy real estate deals made by James and Susan McDougal of Little Rock, Ark. The investigation eventually spattered onto President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, as he served his first term as president. In 1994, Starr was appointed to lead the investigation into Whitewater. Unlike modern-day special counsels, Starr would go on to prove actual high crimes and misdemeanors committed by a U.S. president.
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In the course of the investigation, Starr uncovered evidence that Clinton had conducted a tawdry affair with 21-year-old unpaid White House intern Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office. The juicy scandal would produce timeless classics such as “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is,” and, of course, sordid details such as the stained blue dress and the only known incident of presidential cigar-play.
With so much to hide, President Clinton committed actual crimes (as opposed to strategizing and spitballing on a phonecall), such as perjury, lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice. Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in December of 1988 but acquitted by the Senate in 1999.
The Clintons were never charged with any crimes related to Whitewater, but James McDougal died in the clink, and Susan served 18 months for contempt, for refusing to testify against her former partners, the Clintons. In 2001, Clinton controversially granted Susan a full pardon. In 2021, her net worth was estimated to be around $8 million. Starr’s findings in the case were eventually published commercially as The Starr Report, which became a bestseller.
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