Bill Clinton's Legal Career: A Retrospective

Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, had a law degree from Yale and even taught law at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. However, his career in law was interrupted when he entered politics, running for a seat in the US House of Representatives in 1974. While Clinton lost this race, it marked him as a rising political star. Clinton went on to serve as governor of Arkansas and later as US president from 1993 to 2001. During his presidency, Clinton faced impeachment charges of lying under oath and obstruction of justice, stemming from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones and a subsequent scandal involving Monica Lewinsky. As a result of the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton was disbarred and fined, and he resigned from the bar of the Supreme Court, giving up his license to practice law.

Bill Clinton's impeachment

Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives of the 105th United States Congress on December 19, 1998. The impeachment came after a formal House inquiry, which had been launched on October 8, 1998. The charges against Clinton were lying under oath and obstruction of justice, stemming from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones. Clinton denied having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, and the catalyst for his impeachment was the Starr Report, which outlined the relationship.

Clinton was the second American president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson in 1868. The approved articles of impeachment were submitted to the Senate on January 7, 1999, and the trial began with Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding. Clinton was acquitted on both counts, as the votes cast did not reach the two-thirds majority required for conviction and removal from office.

Clinton's presidency was marked by his advocacy for a wide range of legislation and programs, many of which were enacted into law. He signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. He also appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Clinton's impeachment was a highly partisan affair, with critics arguing that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation was highly politicized and leaked to the press in violation of legal ethics. The House that voted to impeach Clinton was described as "more deeply divided than at any time since Reconstruction." Some believed that Clinton was impeached for political, rather than constitutional reasons.

The Starr Report

The report included 11 grounds for Clinton's potential impeachment, including physical evidence such as DNA test results of a semen stain on Monica Lewinsky's dress, which matched Clinton's blood sample. Starr also alleged that Clinton lied under oath during a sworn deposition in 1998, while he was a defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit and to a grand jury. He further asserted that Clinton attempted to influence the testimony of a grand jury witness and obstruct justice by facilitating a witness' plan to refuse to comply with a subpoena and encouraging a witness to file a false affidavit.

Starr's report also presented a detailed timeline of Lewinsky's sexual encounters with Clinton during her White House internship. It was criticized for including sexually explicit details and for allegedly leaking portions of this information to the press. The report also alleged that Clinton abused his power by denying the relationship with Lewinsky, using executive privilege to pursue an appeal, and delaying his grand jury testimony.

Clinton, however, argued that Lewinsky had asked him for gifts, and he tended to give gifts to his staff as a courtesy. Clinton's personal secretary, Betty Currie, supported this claim and produced some of the gifts exchanged between Clinton and Lewinsky. Additionally, Clinton denied ever seeing intimate notes, and Secret Service records showed Lewinsky did not visit the White House in 1998.

Lying under oath

Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, on two counts: lying under oath and obstruction of justice. The charges stemmed from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Paula Jones, which alleged that Clinton had engaged in an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern.

During the pre-trial discovery process for the Paula Jones lawsuit, Clinton gave testimony denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Lewinsky. However, in August 1998, Lewinsky appeared before a grand jury and testified that she had indeed had a sexual relationship with Clinton. Clinton subsequently admitted to lying under oath about the nature of their relationship.

The catalyst for Clinton's impeachment was the Starr Report, prepared by Independent Counsel Ken Starr in September 1998. The report detailed the results of Starr's investigation into Clinton's business dealings, including the Whitewater controversy, the firing of White House travel agents, and the alleged misuse of FBI files. The investigation was expanded to include Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky after Linda Tripp, who was working with Jones's lawyers, informed Starr that Lewinsky was preparing to commit perjury in the Jones case.

On January 7, 1999, the trial of President Clinton began in the Senate, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding. Five weeks later, on February 12, the Senate voted on the articles of impeachment. Clinton was acquitted on both charges, as neither received the necessary two-thirds majority vote of the senators present for conviction and removal from office.

Lewinsky scandal

The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, also known as "Monicagate", "Lewinskygate", "Tailgate", "Sexgate", and "Zippergate", refers to the affair between then-President Bill Clinton and 21-year-old Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern. The relationship, which lasted from 1995 to 1997, came to light in January 1998 and dominated the news cycle that year.

In 1998, it was revealed that Lewinsky had submitted an affidavit denying any physical relationship with Clinton in the Paula Jones case, where Jones accused Clinton of sexual harassment. However, Lewinsky's confidant, Linda Tripp, provided investigators with taped conversations that contradicted the affidavit. On January 16, 1998, a court allowed investigators to include the Clinton-Lewinsky allegations in their investigation into whether Lewinsky had lied under oath.

On January 17, 1998, the Drudge Report published allegations of the affair, followed by mainstream media outlets on January 21. Clinton denied the affair, famously stating, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." However, on July 28, 1998, Lewinsky received immunity in exchange for grand jury testimony and turned over a semen-stained dress, which provided circumstantial evidence of the relationship.

On August 17, 1998, Clinton admitted to an "improper physical relationship" with Lewinsky in a televised address, acknowledging his "inappropriate" conduct and expressing regret for misleading the nation. The scandal resulted in Clinton's impeachment process, with investigators charging him with lying under oath, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power.

Despite the scandal, Clinton maintained high approval ratings, with most Americans wanting him censured but not removed from office. The impeachment proceedings and graphic details of the scandal captivated the American public, drawing comparisons to Watergate. The fallout from the scandal continued to impact American politics even two decades later.

Clinton's resignation from the Supreme Court bar

On November 9, 2001, former US President Bill Clinton resigned from the Supreme Court bar. This was the last day Clinton could contest his disbarment, and he opted to resign, surrendering his license, rather than facing penalties related to disbarment.

Clinton's resignation was a consequence of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives as a result of statements made regarding the Lewinsky affair. He was also fined $25,000, and his Arkansas law license was suspended for five years.

Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, informed the court’s clerk of the decision to resign from the Supreme Court bar. In a letter to the clerk, William Suter, Kendall stated that Clinton had been a member in good standing of the Arkansas bar for over 25 years and had never faced any professional discipline. However, on January 19, 2001, Clinton entered into an agreement with the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct, surrendering his Arkansas law license.

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