Overview of Clinton’s Impeachment Proceedings

An Overview of the Impeachment Proceedings of William J. Clinton

The impeachment trial of President Clinton originated from a civil lawsuit filed in 1994 by Paula Jones. Jones alleged that in 1991 Governor Clinton asked a state trooper to bring her up to his room at Excelsior Hotel, where she alleged he dropped his trousers and asked her to “kiss it” (Chronology of the Paula Jones Case, BBC, January, 1998). The case made it to the Supreme Court because of the President’s request to delay the trial until the end of his term. The Supreme Court ruled that the trial could proceed, and Jones’ lawyers began their investigation. On December 5, 1997, “Jones’ lawyers submitted a list of women that they would like to depose. Included on the list was the name Monica Lewinsky” (The Impeachment Trial of President William Clinton, UMKC online, Linder, 2005).

In 1995, twenty-one year old Monica Lewinsky began an internship at the White House. Six months later, while assigned to the West Wing, Lewinsky began a sexual relationship with the President. This relationship involved several sexual encounters that spanned from the fall of 2005 to the beginning of 2007 (Starr Report, Sect. II, CNN online, 1998). Not long after, came the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the Paula Jones case to continue.

In January of 1998, Attorney General Janet Reno petitioned the three-judge panel in charge of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. The petition requested Starr’s authorization to conduct an investigation on whether anyone had committed a federal crime regarding Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton (Starr Speaks, Salon online, Starr, 1998, para.2).

The Three Judge panel granted the petition filed by Attorney General Janet Reno and upon completion of Kenneth Starr’s thorough eight month investigation, he submitted a 445- page report to the House of Representatives. Starr’s report to the United States House of Representatives pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, § 595(c), contained everything from a detailed background, depositions, explicit details of every encounter between Ms. Lewinsky and the President, and the grounds for impeachment. After the House of Representatives received the document, they forwarded it on to the House Judiciary Committee.

The House Judiciary Committee convened on October 5, 1998 to decide whether there was enough evidence to start an official impeachment inquiry. A simple majority was needed for the investigation to continue. The House Judiciary Committee heard the Republican investigative counsel, along with opinions from the opposing sides.

With so few cases to draw from, both Democrats and Republicans used examples from Watergate to further their arguments. In 1974, the House of Representatives authorized the Judiciary Committee to consider impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon because of his party’s involvement in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters (http://watergate.info/impeachment/).

The meeting regarding President Clinton’s impeachment ended with a 21-16 vote down party lines in favor of starting the formal inquiry (Judiciary Panel, in Party Vote, Urges Impeachment Hearings, NY Times online, Mitchell, 1998, para. 2). House Resolution 581, which outlined the investigative powers of the Judiciary Committee, was then sent to the House for approval.

Just three days later, on October 8, 1998, the House met to debate the finalization of the Judiciary Committee’s inquiry. Once again, mostly divided along party lines, the House authorized the impeachment process to continue. With the midterm elections starting, Congress set a three week recess. The media took this opportunity to make predictions about how the elections would affect the President Clinton’s future in the White House. Some thought republicans would gain seats in the Congressional elections, increasing the President’s chances for impeachment.

The November 3, 1998 midterm elections ended with the democrats gaining five seats in the House, an anomaly many felt was the public’s way of showing its dissatisfaction with the republican-led investigation of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal (hnn.us/articles/1094.html).

Once elections were complete, the House Judiciary Committee began the hearings with Kenneth Starr’s case for impeachment. Since the Committee did not do much of their own investigation and called no witnesses, they relied heavily on Starr’s case in determining which articles of impeachment the President would be charged with. House Resolution 581 outlined specifically how the Committee would conduct their independent inquiry, but instead the Committee took Starr’s recommendation on (1) starting the impeachment process and (2) the grounds existing for impeachment