Senate Braces for Days of Judgment in Momentous Trial

The floor of the U.S. Senate will be transformed into a courtroom Thursday but what transpires in that hallowed chamber will resemble no other trial ever seen by modern Americans.

One hundred senators will sit as both judge and jury in the impeachment trial of President Clinton, with the impact of their historic verdict so momentous that it could not only end this presidency but also alter the balance of power between Congress and the White House.

This burden weighed on Sen. Patrick J. Leahy last week as he sat at his old wooden desk for the formal presentation of the articles of impeachment.

Twenty-four years have passed since the Vermont Democrat first came to the Senate. Now 58, he is white-haired and balding. That morning, his eyes swept the grand, marble Senate chamber, landing at last upon the Great Seal of the United States.

A single tear coursed his cheek. “I thought about my grandson,” he recalled. “I thought about how he will be living in the next century.”

Future generations will long remember and gravely ponder what the Senate does in this room in the weeks ahead.

At a time when the public seems bombarded by “trials of the century,” Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the conservative antithesis of Leahy, has already labeled this one the “trial of all time.”

In reality, no such characterization is accurate because in truth this will not be a trial at all. Rather, it will be a fusion of politics and law, a marriage of pomp and partisanship, a process so rocky that many of the rules of the game--including the central question of live-witness testimony--are yet to be decided.

The only thing for sure is that on Thursday the case will begin in earnest with opening statements. Some weeks later, after rebuttals and questions, further procedural wrangling and perhaps witnesses, 100 senators will decide whether the nation’s 42nd president should be removed from office for allegedly committing perjury and obstructing justice to save himself from the public humiliation of the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal.

House prosecutors--known as managers--contend that the charges are not that complex and that they can present their case without much difficulty. The essence of their argument is that Clinton lied to the grand jury about his extramarital relationship with the former White House intern and that he involved Lewinsky and members of his staff in the cover-up by arranging a job offer, encouraging the filing of a false affidavit, arranging the hiding of gifts and lying to aides who later became witnesses.

Vigorous Defense of President

The president’s lawyers, however, plan to vigorously defend his innocence--if not his behavior. They hope to mine inconsistencies in the evidence presented to Congress by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr and prove that Clinton’s actions, while clearly intended to conceal details of an embarrassing moral lapse, were not technically illegal.

Even if the charges are true, they will contend, Clinton never betrayed the country by committing what the Founding Fathers termed “high crimes and misdemeanors” and that, therefore, his offenses are not impeachable.

Although the case is not about sex, shades of the sexual encounters Clinton had with Lewinsky near the Oval Office darken the corners.

According to the largely Republican lawmakers who last month impeached Bill Clinton, tarring him with a distinction accorded only one other U.S. president, the case is about whether a president they say is dishonest--to the judicial system, the public, his staff, his family and himself--is worthy of the highest office in the land.

But while Republicans hold a 55-45 majority in the Senate, they do not control the 67 votes, a two-thirds majority, that the Constitution requires for conviction and removal from office.

Given those long odds, most observers expect Clinton to survive in office, perhaps further branded by a resolution of censure.

But, some caution, many of those same observers never expected Clinton to be impeached by the House.

Yearlong National Soap Opera

Yet what began as Starr’s investigation of possible crimes became a yearlong running national soap opera starring Lewinsky as a love-hungry young woman from Beverly Hills, Linda Tripp as the friend who secretly taped her conversations and Bill Clinton as the president seemingly forever in trouble with women. The story line, remarkably, has come to this: Potentially for the first time in the nation’s history a popularly elected president could be turned out of office.

And while Clinton may ignore the proceedings and attempt to continue acting presidential as he goes about the nation’s business, the country’s attention will be trained on the Senate chamber that Leahy’s eyes scanned with such introspection.

This is what the public will see:

* The jury.

Unlike any normal court trial, where jurors are chosen at random and stricken if they show the slightest hint of bias, the Senate jurors take their seats full of the politics that brought them here.

Since the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke a year ago, most of them have tripped over each other in pursuit of television cameras, pumping out press releases at each high-water event last year--when Starr presented his referral, when the House Judiciary Committee approved four articles of impeachment and when the full House impeached Clinton on two of those counts.

Last Friday, two of them, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), rushed from a trial strategy session to appear in front of a remote CNN camera crew set up outside, where they shivered on the frozen Capitol lawn as a winter storm blew snow into their faces.

Though they profess neutrality, and swore an oath last week “to do impartial justice,” almost all of the senators already have exposed some slice of their political souls.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), moments after the solemn ceremonies last week, went directly to the White House to praise Clinton--the man he now must judge--at a presidential event on education. Then, as reporters gathered around in the White House driveway, Kennedy announced that he hoped no witnesses would be called during the trial.

“I fail to see the need for them in the Senate of the United States,” he proclaimed.

On the other side hovered Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), no friend of the president. Speaking to his home constituents via the Charlotte Observer, Helms said:

“Anybody in the office of president, if his name was Ronald Reagan or Jerry Ford or whoever, who brought this nation of ours to the point of being ridiculed around the world, I think that is a high crime. And it’s an abuse of office.”

* Apparent conflicts of interest.

One of the key House prosecutors, Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.), is the brother of one of the jurors, Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.). They share a Washington-area apartment.

Moreover, Asa Hutchinson occupies the congressional seat that a young Bill Clinton once sought but lost. And as a former federal prosecutor in Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson prosecuted Roger Clinton, the president’s brother, on drug charges.

Rep. Hutchinson said: “It is a legal conflict but this is certainly a political and legal concept that we’re going through. And the conflicts are rampant out there.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is joined to the Clintons by marriage. Her daughter Nicole is married to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham. Last Saturday night, Clinton and the first lady attended a dinner with Boxer in honor of her husband’s 60th birthday.

Yet Boxer maintains that she and all of her colleagues can be nonpartisan.

“You know, there are people who have golfed with this president. There are people who have lunched with Ken Starr. We’re all together in this,” she said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Indeed, on Monday night seven senators--all but one of them Democrats and including Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California--were guests of Clinton at a White House state dinner and tango party for the president of Argentina.

Two new Republican senators voted for impeachment last month while still members of the House.

A third freshman, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), won his seat in November with a political boost from the first lady, who made four campaign trips on his behalf.

In December, Schumer, still a member of the House Judiciary Committee, was actively involved in fighting the impeachment charges and voted against them twice, once in committee and again on the House floor. Now he prepares to cast an unprecedented third ballot in the Senate, his mind made up long before any trial presentation of evidence or testimony.

“We know the evidence,” he said this month. “It’s time to step up to the plate and vote and not prolong it any further.”

* The schedule.

House prosecutors and Clinton’s lawyers each have 24 hours to present their cases. After that, the senators get up to 16 hours to ask questions. The questions must be handwritten and passed up to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who will preside.

It is not until the third phase--when the House managers are expected to argue that they should be allowed to introduce new evidence and witnesses and the White House likely will argue that the case be closed--that senators will vote on whether to permit any witnesses. Any senator could call for a certain witness and then the whole body would vote on that request.

Similarly, any senator could move to produce additional evidence not germane to the two impeachment articles. Any senator also could move to adjourn the trial indefinitely or file a motion for censure. All motions require a majority to pass.

Any witnesses approved by a majority of senators first would be interviewed privately. Then, after reading deposition transcripts, senators would vote again on whether to have them testify publicly in the Senate chamber.

Lewinsky sits at the top of the House prosecutors’ witness wish list. What she would be allowed to say is far from decided.

Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), a harsh critic of the Democratic administration, would have Lewinsky testify about the underlying charges against Clinton, but not about their sexual playtime outside the Oval Office.

Under Nickles’ plan, Lewinsky would review her grand jury testimony and then attest to its accuracy without, he says, sullying the sanctity of the Senate with any “three-letter words.”

Curiously enough, however, none of the senators has to listen to any of the trial at all. Unlike jurors in courthouses across America, they are not even required to show up.

* The backdrop of politics.

Behind all this hangs the mixture of politics and precedence. Not in 131 years, since the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, has a case to oust a chief executive come this far.

The House managers include some of Washington’s most conservative politicians. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), for example, was calling for Clinton’s removal long before Starr turned his Whitewater review into an investigation of presidential sex and lying.

The managers’ leader, Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), has insisted repeatedly that the case against Clinton is about the “rule of law,” that if the president of the United States can get away with perjury before a grand jury, then he has placed himself “above the law.”

Although many of the managers are former prosecutors, they now are politicians, and their courtroom days are long past.

They may seem a mismatch for Clinton’s lawyers. Private attorney David E. Kendall, White House Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff and Special Counsel Gregory B. Craig are among the capital’s brightest legal stars.

Despite their combined talents, their hottest weapon may be their client himself who, if his polls of last year repeat, will enjoy even higher public approval ratings as the trial progresses.

In the Senate chamber rafters, above the Great Seal of the United States, are nearly 600 gallery seats for invited guests, the press and the public. Down below, the television cameras will be on. America will be watching.

TRIAL OF THE PRESIDENT / PREVIEW OF THE PROCEEDINGS

Q&A;: Who presides over the trial? Will Clinton attend? Who presents the case? How does the Senate render judgment? A14

SEATING CHARTS: Graphic explains where Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will sit, what the procedure will be and when to watch. A14

THE OTHER AGENDA: Republican senators say they will continue their legislative work in Congress during the impeachment trial. A15

FLYNT FLAM: Columnist Patt Morrison observes that Larry Flynt has cast us all extras in his checkbook striptease of American politicians. B1

TANGLED WEB: Two software entrepreneurs have launched an Internet initiative to immediately censure the president and “Move On.” A15

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

How the Trial Will Work

The Senate trial will be held six days a week, excluding Sundays; on a majority vote the Senate may decide to waive Saturday sessions. Proceedings begin no later than 10 a.m. PST each day. There will be no proceedings on Monday due to the Martin Luther King holiday.

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THE CHARGES

Article I: Alleges President Clinton “willfully provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony” before independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s grand jury on Aug. 17, 1998.

Article III: Alleges Clinton “prevented, obstructed and impeded the administration of justice and has to that end engaged personally, and through his subordinates and agents, in a course of conduct or scheme designed to delay, impede, cover up and conceal the existence of evidence and testimony” related to the Paula Corbin Jones case.

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THE PROCEEDINGS

The senators each take an oath as a juror.

The chief justice of the United States presides.

The Senate has subpoena power.

The accused is advised of the charges against him, but the trial will proceed with or without his presence.

The House presents its opening arguments Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors will have 24 hours, spread over several days, to present their case.

The president’s lawyers will then have the same amount of time to present their defense.

Senators will then pose questions to both sides for up to 16 hours.

Motions to dismiss case, call witnesses or request evidence will be heard and debated.

If allowed, witnesses will first be questioned in private and Senate will decide after depositions which witnesses could testify.

After witness testimony, Senate deliberates and votes on articles.

Two-thirds vote (67) needed to remove president.

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THE SENATE

The political party makeup of the 106th Senate.

Republicans: 55

Democrats: 45

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THE JUDGE

While William H. Rehnquist officially is the presiding officer of the trial, his role is largely ceremonial. The senators, acting as jurors, can vote to overrule his decisions.

Appointed to the Supreme Court by Richard Nixon in 1971, Rehnquist became chief justice in 1986.

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THE RULES

* Senators are not to talk during the trial. If a senator wants to ask a question of a witness, the senator must submit that question in writing to the chief justice.

* The Senate doors must remain open unless the senators are deliberating.

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THE COURT

NOTE: Senate seating may change later in session

JUDGE: William H. Rehnquist Chief justice of the United States

Originally, Vice President Al Gore was to be the presiding officer, but there is a question as to whether there would be a conflict of interest.

PROSECUTION: 13 House managers, members of the House

DEFENSE: President’s attorneys and members of the White House counsel’s office

THE WELL is where the prosecution and the defense will present their cases

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THE JURY

DEMOCRAT

A. Minority Leader Tom Daschle (S.D.)

1. Jack Reed (R.I.)

2. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.)

3. Robert Torricelli (N.J.)

4. Mary Landrieu (La.)

5. Timothy P. Johnson (S.D.)

6. Ron Wyden (Ore.)

7. Patty Murray (Wash.)

8. Russell D. Feingold (Wis.)

9. Max Cleland (Ga.)

10. Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.)

11. Barbara Boxer (Calif.)

12. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.)

13. John Edwards (N.C.)

14. Bob Graham (Fla.)

15. Bob Kerrey (Neb.)

16. Kent Conrad (N.D.)

17. Barbara A. Mikulski (Md.)

18. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.)

19. Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)

20. Paul Wellstone (Minn.)

21. Charles S. Robb (Va.)

22. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.)

23. Herbert Kohl (Wis.)

24. Richard H. Bryan (Nev.)

25. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.)

26. Evan Bayh (Ind.)

27. Carl Levin (Mich.)

28. Paul S. Sarbanes (Md.)

29. John F. Kerry (Mass.)

30. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.)

31. Ernest F. Hollings (S.C.)

32. Blanche Lambert Lincoln (Ark.)

33. Tom Harkin (Iowa)

34. Max Baucus (Mont.)

35. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.)

36. Harry Reid (Nevada)

37. John D. Rockefeller IV (W. Va.)

38. Jeff Bingaman (N.M.)

39. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.)

40. John B. Breaux (La.)

41. Frank R. Lautenberg (N.J.)

42. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (N.Y.)

43. Daniel K. Inouye (Hawaii)

44. Robert C. Byrd (W. Va.)

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REPUBLICAN

B. Majority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.)

1. Ted Stevens (Alaska)

2. William V. Roth (Del.)

3. Pete V. Domenici (N.M.)

4. John W. Warner (Va.)

5. Don Nickles (Okla.)

6. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah)

7. Mitch McConnell (Ky.)

8. Arlen Specter (Pa.)

9. John H. Chafee (R.I.)

10. Jesse Helms (N.C.)

11. Richard C. Shelby (Ala.)

12. Paul Coverdell (Ga.)

13. Robert F. Bennett (Utah)

14. James M. Jeffords (Vt.)

15. James M. Inhofe (Okla.)

16. Larry E. Craig (Idaho)

17. Strom Thurmond (S.C.)

18. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa)

19. Thad Cochran (Miss.)

20. Frank H. Murkowski (Alaska)

21. Bob Smith (N.H.)

22. Phil Gramm (Texas)

23. John McCain (Ariz.)

24. Connie Mack (Fla.)

25. Michael D. Crapo (Idaho)

26. Jim Bunning (Ky.)

27. Christopher S. Bond (Mo.)

28. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.)

29. Richard G. Lugar (Ind.)

30. Slade Gorton (Wash.)

31. Peter Fitzgerald (Ill.)

32. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine)

33. Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.)

34. Judd Gregg (N.H.)

35. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Tx.)

36. John Ashcroft (Mo.)

37. Spencer Abraham (Mich.)

38. Conrad R. Burns (Mont.)

39. Jon Kyl (Ariz.)

40. Mike DeWine (Ohio)

41. Wayne Allard (Colo.)

42. Charles Hagel (Neb.)

43. George Voinovich (Ohio)

44. Craig Thomas (Wyo.)

45. Bill Frist (Tenn.)

46. Pat Roberts (Kan.)

47. Gordon Smith (Ore.)

48. Jeff Sessions (Ala.)

49. Rick Santorum (Pa.)

50. Rod Grams (Minn.)

51. Sam Brownback (Kan.)

52. Tim Hutchinson (Ark.)

53. Susan Collins (Maine)

54. Mike Enzi (Wyo.)

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SPECTATORS

596-seat Senate chamber

* Public gets 50 seats

* Press gets 120 seats and 16 standing-room-only spots

* Rest of the seats go to government officials

ONLINE INFO: The Times’ Web site will have live video of the Senate trial: https://www.latimes.com/impeach

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TV COVERAGE

NBC, ABC and CBS: Will cover the opening session, which begins at 10 a.m. PST Thursday.

PBS, Court TV and C-SPAN II: Live, gavel-to-gavel coverage

CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC: Plan to cover most public Senate action

Researched by TRICIA FORD / Los Angeles Times