CLINTON V. JONES

CLINTON V. JONES, 520 U.S. 681 (1997). In May 1991 Paula Corbin Jones, an Arkansas state employee, was brought to a hotel room in Little Rock, Arkansas, where, she alleged, Governor Bill Clinton made "abhorrent" sexual advances to her. Having rejected his advances, she later claimed that her refusal resulted in discrimination against her in her work. Consequently, she filed suit in a federal district court seeking to recover damages from him even while he was serving as the president of the United States.

Clinton requested that the federal judge in Little Rock dismiss the pending civil trial on grounds of presidential immunity. The judge refused, ruling that such a trial would be stayed only until his presidency had ended. Clinton then appealed the judge's decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which in turn ruled that he lacked immunity and that the case could go to trial.

Subsequently, Clinton asked the United States Supreme Court to delay proceedings until he had left office. On 27 May 1997 the Court, in the case of Clinton v. Jones, let stand the decision of the Federal Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, denying Clinton immunity in a civil suit not related to his office. As a result of the Court's action, the Jones case went to trial, during which Clinton gave perjured testimony about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. His testimony later provided the grounds for his impeachment by the House of Representatives.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Posner, Richard A. An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, l999.

William C.Berman

See alsoImpeachment Trial of Bill Clinton .