The Nation - News from Dec. 25, 1987

The Justice Department has begun a formal preliminary investigation of former Supreme Court nominee Douglas H. Ginsburg over allegations of conflict of interest, a department source said. Last month, the department’s criminal division began a “threshold inquiry” into whether Ginsburg violated federal conflict-of-interest laws while working on cable television cases when he was a senior Justice Department official. The formal preliminary investigation now under way represents the next step in deciding whether an independent counsel should be appointed to look into the matter.