A Nation Shortchanged

There is no longer any doubt that Paula Jones’ civil suit against Bill Clinton and the many subsidiary allegations and suspicions stemming from it have become powerful distractions for the president and much of the White House staff. Virtually daily, fresh details emerge regarding alleged personal improprieties, prompting denials, explanations and countercharges from Clinton or his spokespersons. No presidential appearance, from a photo op with a visiting head of state to the announcement of a major policy initiative, is free from a cascade of reporters’ questions about this increasingly sordid business. Often--too often--what some in the media like to call the White House crisis dominates issues of far greater importance to American life.

The Jones suit, the depositions it has given rise to and the investigations these have helped touch off have produced a situation unique in presidential history. For more than a quarter-century presidents have been immune from civil suits arising from their official actions in office. And no president has ever before been the defendant in a civil suit stemming from an alleged instance of misbehavior that predated his election.

Jones filed her suit in 1994, three years after she alleges that Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, crudely propositioned her in a Little Rock hotel room. In fairly short order a federal judge ruled, without prejudice to Jones’ claims, that the suit could be delayed until Clinton left the White House.

An appellate court, on a 2-1 vote, overturned that ruling, with the majority holding that the president must be subject to the same laws as everyone else in society. About that there has never been any dispute. The issue, rather, was one of timing and how proceeding with the case could affect the conduct of the presidency. As the dissenting judge on the appeals court warned, “the well-known travail of litigation and its effect on the ability of the president to perform his duties” argued in behalf of deferring the civil suit. That was also the view of this newspaper. While depositions and other evidence could be gathered and preserved during Clinton’s tenure, the actual civil trial should await his retirement to private life. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled, unanimously, that the suit could proceed, in a decision that largely dismissed concerns that it might seriously distract the president from his official duties.

Seldom has the judiciary displayed a greater lack of foresight about the predictable course of political events.

The Jones suit, the concomitant investigation by special counsel Kenneth Starr and the more recent allegations involving White House aides Monica Lewinsky and Kathleen Willey have become major preoccupations for Clinton and his associates. No matter how well organized Clinton might be or how great his vaunted ability to compartmentalize issues and problems, it’s obvious that he is being forced to devote a large block of time to defending himself against accusations about his conduct.

That said, the Supreme Court’s wrong turn cannot be used to excuse what has been unfolding, if the mounting allegations are true. Many--and not just his political enemies--have concluded that Clinton has only himself to blame. Had he kept his sexual proclivities under tighter control, they say, and had he dealt more directly and adroitly with Jones’ allegations, there might have been no basis for the Starr investigation into the most serious of possible charges facing the president, that he perjured himself in a deposition or encouraged others to lie.

It remains to be seen if or where any ultimate truth will be found.

What can no longer be denied or argued away is that Clinton himself has been the prime mover in creating the mess he is now in. And with each passing day his denials, his explanations, his professed mystification appear less and less credible.