51.   It will now be up to historians to judge what happened in this impeachment, the first one to be conducted under the independent counsel law enacted after Watergate.

52.   Killing the independent counsel law was a wise move, Starr said.

53.   Last month, Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., introduced a bill that would continue the independent counsel law but with restrictions.

54.   Last month, Starr testified before Congress that the independent counsel law, under which he was appointed, should be abolished.

55.   Many of the senators engaged Reno in a highly legalistic debate over how the independent counsel law should be interpreted.

56.   More than any other attorney general, Janet Reno has been bedeviled by the independent counsel law.

57.   Most now emphasize the section of the independent counsel law that says the statute can be engaged to avoid conflicts of interest.

58.   Neither party likes the independent counsel law.

59.   Ms. Reno filed the decision with a three-judge panel of federal appeals court judges Monday afternoon to meet a deadline under the independent counsel law.

60.   Nobody wants to bring back the expired independent counsel law that was so egregiously abused by Kenneth Starr.