New Haven Public Defender Francis T. Mandanici’s quest to investigate former Whitewater Special Prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr took a big step forward on Valentine’s Day.

He finally has a judge to take this hot-potato matter, and that judge says he has a case. Just the week before, the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct began deciding whether to lift President Bill Clinton’s license to practice law for giving false testimony. Mandanici wants the federal courts to investigate whether Starr’s office solicited false testimony against Clinton.