Clinton to face harassment trial

WASHINGTON, May 27: The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously that commoner Paula Jones may go ahead with her sexual harassment law...

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WASHINGTON, May 27: The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously that commoner Paula Jones may go ahead with her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton while he is still in office. In a landmark judgment that casts a dark shadow on the Presidency, the Court ruled that, “Like every other citizen who properly invokes court jurisdiction, Jones has a right to an orderly disposition of her claims.”

No sitting American President has ever faced a criminal charge, much less a lawsuit alleging that he dropped his trousers before a woman and asked her to perform oral sex.

While giving a green light for the case to go forward, the court rejected Clinton’s claim that presidents may not be sued while in office because this would interfere with their official duties.

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Clinton’s lawyers had also argued that permitting her case to go forward would open the way to an avalanche of lawsuits against sitting presidents. “We are not persuaded that either of these risks is serious,” Justice John Stevens ruled.

US courts have previously recognised the principle of immunity for official presidential acts, but it has never extended the doctrine to acts that occurred before they took office. In this case, Jones alleges that Clinton made the move on her when he was still Governor of Arkansas state.

The latest ruling is bound to rattle the President’s advisors, some of whom saw the case as something of a joke when it all began four years back. Many felt that Jones, an evangelist’s daughter from a small town, stood no chance against the President of the United States in a case which boils down to her word against his word.

Jones’ lawyers have countered charges that she is a gold digger and a bimbo and said she cannot wait till 2001 – when Clinton steps down – to press the charges. They argued that the duties of the office of the President are not unremitting and that if Clinton had time to jog, play golf and write books, then he could face a lawsuit too.

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The Supreme Court ruling has grave implications for the American Presidency in general. In theory now, the President would have to answer to any of the 586 of US District Court judges who might choose to haul him into their courtroom if cases are field against him. It could open a huge can of worms for not just Clinton, but any president.