If Clinton Is Innocent, Why Not Proceed?

Monday’s Supreme Court decision to grant President Clinton a hearing concerning the sexual harassment case being brought against him by Paula Corbin Jones is indeed a defeat for Jones and her attorneys. Yet it is just another step in Jones’ long, lonely fight for justice.

From the beginning, Jones has been fighting an uphill battle. When she filed her suit in 1993, she, like the rest of the nation, must have been stunned to see the women’s movement--previously the strong opponent of sexual harassment--go into hibernation over her case, popping up only long enough to complain about Republican elected officials like Bob Packwood. Granted, in the eyes of liberal feminists Jones was only a housewife and mother, compared with the well-educated, articulate law professor whom the feminists preferred to champion. But that fact in itself should have been titillating enough for the old war horses of the Anita Hill crusade--like Rep. Pat Schroeder and National Organization for Women leaders Patricia Ireland and Molly Yard--to sound the rallying cry. Yet the failure of those in the so-called women’s movement to afford Jones the same blind, unsubstantiated support they gave Hill says more about their character and sincerity than any book written on the topic of hypocrisy.

Jones also had to struggle with the overtly partisan media machine. The media went into their cafeteria reporting mode: printing front-page stories on Jones and her background that never would have made the back page had they been about Hill, asking probing questions concerning Jones’ allegations that would have been viewed as insensitive and treasonous against Hill.

Clinton, on the other hand, used his energy, via his lawyers, to engage in a new form of harassment, this time aimed at justice. Going from sexual to judicial harassment, Clinton first tried to place himself above the law by daring to ask the court for a delay while in office. Failing that, his lawyers shamefully tried to use his position as commander in chief of the military, citing a “while in service” immunity clause in the law. Clinton claimed to be on active duty. Most recently, Clinton’s lawyers have announced that two new attorneys have joined their team, meaning a delay is necessary--no doubt past November.

While Clinton supporters may argue that a sitting president should not be sued for past transgressions while in office, that argument is undermined by the the case of Spiro Agnew, who was forced to resign as vice president in 1973 after revelations of past corruption when he was governor of Maryland. If Clinton is indeed innocent as he and his supporters contend, then why not simply allow Jones a speedy entry into the courtroom, where she can present her facts and state her case? Then, if the courts rule on behalf of the president, Jones will be silenced, once and for all.

One would think that Clinton would be eager to get into court and clear his name. On the other hand, if the court finds the president guilty, then, to quote Richard Nixon, “The people have a right to know if their president is a crook.” But none of this can happen until discovery is allowed, depositions are taken, stall tactics are ended and the wheels of justice are able to pick up speed.

While critics say that Jones merely is being used by the right, she has kept a low profile, giving few interviews, rejecting the talk-show circuit and being present only at press conferences that her lawyers call. Is she merely tilting at windmills by suing a man who she says exposed himself to her? Now that the Supreme Court has spoken and the world can see that Jones, though put off temporarily, will not surrender or retreat, let the legal process proceed. As Jones patiently awaits each new court decision, she must find great solace in the words of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who announced to the world after Hill’s charges at the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings that women do not lie when it comes to harassment. If Jones can finally meet the man from the Oval Office on a leveled playing field, she’ll be able to prove that.