Vindicate. vt. To free from any question of error, dishonor, guilt, or negligence.
-- Webster's Third New International Dictionary
When Independent Counsel James McKay delivered the results of his 14-month investigation of Attorney General Edwin Meese to a three-judge Washington panel last week, it was clear he would not seek a criminal indictment. A few hours later in Sacramento, the Attorney General declared that the result "fully vindicates me" and announced that he would resign by the end of this month or early August to "accept opportunities in the private sector." Meese had not yet read the 830-page report, which will...