Judge ‘Concerned’ by Clinton Answers

The federal judge who presided over the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment lawsuit Tuesday raised the prospect that she might hold President Clinton in contempt of court because of apparently misleading answers he gave about his relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky during a deposition in the Jones case.

U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, in a ruling released in Little Rock, Ark., said she has “concerns” that Clinton may have deceived her in light of his nationally televised acknowledgment last month that he had an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. In his Jan. 17 Jones deposition, Clinton denied having had “sexual relations” or an “extramarital affair” with the former White House intern, and professed not to remember whether he had ever been alone with her.

The impact that Wright’s new concerns could have on a case she dismissed in April remained murky. The usual legal recourse against people suspected of lying under oath is to prosecute them for perjury, not to hold them in contempt of court, legal experts said.