MSS 00-01

Judge John D. Butzner, Jr. papers

Dates

Creation: 1986-1998

Extent

14 Cubic feet
34 archival boxes

Abstract

Judge John D. Butzner, Jr. papers (1986-1998) document his service on the Special Division of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsel. These files primarily reflect the panel's supervision of counsels' work, and contain correspondence regarding selection of counsel and costs of investigations.

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Acquisition Information

Judge Butzner donated his papers relating to the Office of Independent Counsel to the University of Virginia Law Library in the summer of 2000.

Arrangement

The files are organized alphabetically by case name, and consist of extensive correspondence between the judges; memoranda, orders, and opinions; reports of the independent counsel; applications for attorneys' fee; and other related documents.

Biographical / Historical Note

Judge John Decker Butzner, Jr., was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1917. He received a B.A. from the University of Scranton in 1938, and an LL.B. from the University of Virginia in 1941. After law school graduation, he went into private practice in Fredericksburg for a brief time and then joined the U.S. Air Force in 1942. After the war he returned to his Fredericksburg practice, where he remained until his 1958 appointment to the Judicial Circuit Court of Virginia.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy appointed Butzner to the U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia. Five years later, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Judge Butzner assumed senior status in 1982, and five years after that, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist asked him to serve as a member of the Special Division of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the Purpose of Appealing Independent Counsel. Judge Butzner served for ten years in that post.

From 1988 to 1998, Judge Butzner worked and corresponded with Judges Wilbur F. Bell, Peter T. Fay, George E. MacKinnon, David B. Sentelle, and Joseph T. Sneed. He also had some correspondence with Attorneys General Dick Thornburgh and Janet Reno. Independent counsels serving during this time include Arlin M. Adams, David M. Barrett, Carol Elder Bruce, Joseph DiGenova, James C. McKay, Daniel S. Pearson, Whitney North Seymour, Jr., Donald C. Smaltz, Kenneth R. Starr, Lawrence Walsh, and Dan K. Webb.

Judge John Decker died January 20, 2006, at the age of 88.

Physical Description

The collection consists of 34 boxes plus a number of bound volumes (18 linear feet).1 arbitrary_unit

Preferred Citation

Inventory of the Papers of Judge John D. Butzner, Jr., 1986-1998, MSS-00-1, University of Virginia Law Library, Charlottesville, VA 22903

Scope and Content

The collection reflects ten years of Butzner work as member of the special division of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for the purpose of appointing independent counsels.

The files consist of extensive correspondence between the judges, memoranda, orders and opinions, reports, applications for attorneys fees and other relating documents. The correspondence reflects the workings of their panels, the method of selecting independent counsel, various revisions of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, and the high costs of the investigations.

The judges members of the this special division were: Judge George E. MacKinnon, Judge Wilbur F. Bell, Judge David B. Sentelle, Judge Joseph T. Sneed, Judge Peter T. Fay.

There is correspondence with attorneys generals Dick Thornbugh and Janet Reno; and files about the appointments of independent counsels: Carol Elder Bruce, Daniel S. Pearson, Dan K. Webb, David M. Barrett, Whitney North Seymor, Donald C. Smaltz, James C. McKay, Arlin M. Adams, Lawrence Walsh, Joseph DiGenova, Kenneth R. Starr, and others.

People or matters under investigation during this period included Bruce R. Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; Ronald H. Brown, Secretary of Commerce; Lauro F. Cavazos; Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Michael D. Deaver, White House aide; Raymond J. Donovan, Secretary of Labor; Alphonse Michael (Mike) Espy, Secretary of Agriculture; Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association, better known as "Whitewater;" Janet G. Mullins, regarding the handling of President William Clinton's passport files; Franklyn L. Nofzinger and Edward Meese III; Oliver L. North in the Iran-Contra affair; Theodore B. Olson, Assistant Attorney General; and Samuel R. Pierce.

The largest case concerns Oliver L. North and the sale of arms to Iran. Included are files regarding President Ronald Reagan's and President George Bush's applications for attorney's fees resulting from that investigation. There is also extensive information on the case regarding Janet Mullins and the search of President William Clinton's passport files, and on the Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan case, better known as Whitewater, as well as the controversial appointment of Kenneth R. Starr to serve as independent counsel in that case.

Use Restrictions