You know things are getting interesting when top Department of Justice officials plead the Fifth, as Monica Goodling did Monday. It doesn’t seem clear at all that she actually can do this, since “avoiding perjury charges” is not a valid justification for using the Fifth.
My, this stuff is complicated. If only there were some magazine around that could do an exhaustive three-part article on the Fifth Amendment!
Naturally, Richard Harris (not, I expect, the actor) did precisely that for The New Yorker in April of 1976. You can tell that it’s written in a different era, though, because at that time, the FBI’s most pressing task was infiltrating nests of lesbians.
No, I’m not kidding.
—Martin Schneider