U.S. Ordered to Pay Meese Legal Costs

An appellate court panel told the government to reimburse Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III for $472,190 of the more than $720,000 in legal expenses he incurred while defending himself against allegations of misconduct as President Reagan’s counselor.

The decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was made public today.

In its order, the panel said the $472,190 was decided as the amount to be reimbursed under provisions of the Ethics in Government Act, which call for the government to pick up the legal fees of public officials accused of wrongdoing but who are ultimately cleared.

Reimbursement Limited

However, the panel said Meese could not be reimbursed for the time his attorneys spent in answering questions from reporters during the course of the Meese investigation.

The order said the court had arrived at the reimbursement figure after considering “all relevant factors, including the extent to which the independent counsel’s investigation duplicated investigations of other government agencies and the Congress.”

Meese had been investigated during much of 1983 on allegations that he accepted loans from friends who ultimately got government jobs, that there were irregularities in connection with his promotion to the rank of colonel in the Army Reserve and that he had failed to report certain loans on his financial disclosure forms.

Provisions in Motion

The allegations triggered provisions in the Ethics in Government Act requiring appointment of an independent counsel. That counsel, Jacob A. Stein, concluded last September that Meese had committed no wrongdoing that would warrant bringing any charges against him.

Stein did not offer any conclusion on the ethics of Meese’s actions.

Meese was confirmed by the Senate to be the nation’s 75th attorney general on Feb. 23, by a 63-31 vote, roughly 13 months after Reagan had asked that the nomination of his longtime close associate be approved.