The Prosecution of James Watt

WE KEEP defending the independent counsel law on grounds that the good it does outweighs the harm, and then along comes another independent counsel to suggest through what appears to be an abuse of prosecutorial power that we're wrong. The latest example turned up the other day in a case involving Reagan administration Interior Secretary James Watt. Mr. Watt, after leaving the Interior Department, had become involved in the so-called HUD scandal of the Reagan era. He set up as a consultant, and was paid by private clients to help them get housing grants. The original independent counsel appoi...