BULLETIN
LITTLE ROCK (AP) - A committee of the Arkansas Supreme Court sued
President Clinton on Friday, seeking to strip him of his law
license in unprecedented disciplinary action against a sitting
president.
The court's Committee on Professional Conduct voted May 19 to sue
Clinton over "serious misconduct" in the Paula Jones sexual
harassment case. The panel said that, in a sworn deposition,
Clinton gave misleading answers about his relationship with White
House intern Monica Lewinsky.
The brief filing in Pulaski County Circuit Court asked a judge to
find that Clinton "has conducted himself in a manner that
violates the model rules of professional conduct as adopted by
the Arkansas Supreme Court." Clinton has 30 days to respond to
the lawsuit, which was triggered by answers he gave about
Lewinsky.
The conduct committee accused Clinton of "serious misconduct and
defines the term as involving dishonesty, deceit, fraud and
misrepresentation." It said it based its lawsuit on complaints
filed by a federal judge and by an Atlanta law firm, the
Southeastern Legal Foundation.
The five-page lawsuit also said the president's conduct "damages
the legal profession and demonstrates a lack of overall fitness
to hold a license to practice law." It was supported by dozens of
pages of exhibits, including a partial transcript of Clinton's
deposition in the Jones case. Clinton has said the Arkansas
committee was responding too harshly and that his lawyers would
fight - though he would not get involved personally in the case.
The lawsuit was filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, which
handles most cases involving state government. Marie-Bernarde
Miller, a lawyer and former nun who this year successfully argued
to remove a sitting judge from office, was selected to handle the
state's case.
Regardless of the outcome in the local court, it is expected that
the case will ultimately end up before the state Supreme Court on
appeal from either side.
This is the first time that an effort has been made to strip a
sitting president of his law license. New York pulled Richard
Nixon's license to practice law, but that came after he resigned
the presidency Aug. 9, 1974, during the Watergate scandal.
Clinton was impeached by the House and acquitted at a Senate
trial, and he also has been fined for contempt of court. The
Southeastern Legal Foundation, a conservative law group, and U.S.
District Judge Susan Webber Wright referred Clinton to the
discipline committee, saying he lied under oath about the
Lewinsky affair when asked about it by Jones' lawyers.
Jones, a former Arkansas state worker, sued Clinton in 1994,
claiming he made a crude pass at her in a Little Rock hotel room
three years earlier. Jones lawyers' drew Lewinsky into the case
in an attempt to show a pattern of sexual misconduct by Clinton,
a trail later picked up by independent counsel Kenneth Starr that
led to Clinton's impeachment.
In January 1998, Clinton said in his sworn deposition: "I have
never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky."
On Aug. 17, 1998, he told a federal grand jury that he had had an
inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. He said the conduct he
engaged in with Lewinsky did not meet the definition of sex that
was given at the start of the deposition.
Wright found Clinton in contempt and fined him $90,000. Jones
settled out of court for $850,000 while appealing Wright's ruling
dismissing her lawsuit. Clinton did not have to admit any
wrongdoing.
When the professional conduct committee met May 19, eight of the
panel's 14 regular and auxiliary members recused - five citing
ties to Clinton or the Democratic Party - and the remaining six
members said Clinton should no longer carry an Arkansas law
license.
Clinton said his lawyers had told him that if he were to be
treated like other lawyers, there would be "no way in the world"
that he could lose his license. Clinton, a licensed lawyer since
Sept. 7, 1973, was attorney general of Arkansas from 1977-79 and
once taught at the University of Arkansas law school. He has not
practiced law since the early 1980s, between his first and second
terms as Arkansas governor.
---
On the Net:
Southeastern Legal Foundation: http://www.southeasternlegal.org
The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov
--- By JAMES JEFFERSON
Associated Press Writer
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
=================================================================
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
