Friday, February 26, 1999 -- On February 23, 1999, the three judge panel which supposedly supervises the actions of the Independent Counsel, ordered Attorney General Janet Reno to respond to Landmark Legal Foundation's "Application for Judicial Notice and Writ of Prohibition on Justice Department's Investigation of Kenneth Starr" within 15 days. Those are legal terms that go unexplained by the mass media for fear of confusing their audience. This lawyer did not have a problem comprehending the words but rather could not understand why Landmark Legal Foundation thought they had the right to file the documents that they did. The first question out of my mouth upon hearing of the suit was "Where is their standing to file that?"

A little known fact of the American courts is that parties to an action are required to have some sort of stake in the outcome. This is the "standing" requirement and it is an issue in all cases brought in our courts. A person or group must either be a part of the court case or ask the court's permission to address a certain issue within the case that has greater meaning to Society. The issue of standing is so important that in many civil lawsuits, it is mentioned specifically in the initial Complaint. A case may be dismissed if standing is not present Ð if the person making a claim is not close enough to a case to have it make a difference in their lives.

So why is Landmark Legal being permitted to proceed with their claim? They are not the target of this investigation. They do not benefit if the Department of Justice is permitted to investigate Kenneth Starr. The three judge panel, in ordering Attorney General Reno to respond to this Application for Judicial Notice, is saying that Landmark Legal has the right to bring a request to their court in a case in which they have no legal involvement.

Judicial notice is serious business. Simply put, it means that whatever fact is alleged is accepted by the Court as truth Ð that no proof is required. Judicial notice is taken of things such as whether it rained on a certain day if that is an issue in a case. Judicial notice is not taken of who has the right to investigate a man who has wasted more than forty million dollars of our tax money on his partisan, sex-based witch hunt. In the present case, Landmark is stating that the Department of Justice does not have the right to investigate Mr. Starr; only to terminate him. One really must wonder why the panel is willing to allow Landmark's case to proceed when they have no stake in the outcome of the case. One also must wonder why the mass media has not addressed this issue.

What special rights has Landmark been granted by this three judge panel which handpicked Ken Starr to serve as a so-called Independent Counsel? What secrets does Landmark want hidden? Why is this panel allowing Landmark to proceed where no other person or group would be permitted to do so? Once again, we see the accepted rules and procedures of this country being thrown aside for Kenneth Starr's benefit. Perhaps now is the time we all need to start wondering why.