Rookie Judge to Preside in Clinton Case

An appointed judge with barely a month’s experience decided Tuesday to preside over a lawsuit that could cost President Clinton his Arkansas law license.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson was the fifth choice for the job after four others stepped aside citing the appearance of conflicts of interest because of ties to Clinton, once governor of Arkansas.

Johnson, appointed last month to fill a court vacancy through the end of the year, was assigned the case July 5 and had been considering whether to keep it. The judge called the clerk’s office Tuesday morning and said he would accept the case, said Sherry Bruno, a supervisor in the office.

The state Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Conduct is suing to disbar Clinton because of his misleading testimony in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment case about his relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky.

The suit is based on complaints filed by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, who cited Clinton for contempt in the Jones case, and by the Atlanta-based Southeastern Legal Foundation.

Clinton has said the Arkansas committee is acting too harshly and that his lawyers will fight, although he will not get involved personally in the case.

Clinton lawyer David E. Kendall was in China on Tuesday and unavailable for comment, a secretary said. A legal associate did not return a telephone message.

The foundation seeking to disbar Clinton praised Johnson’s decision. “I have a sense that he wouldn’t have taken the case if it didn’t feel it could be concluded by the end of the year, which is the end of his term,” said foundation president Matthew Glavin.

Any decision by Johnson likely will be appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, meaning a final decision may not come until after Clinton and the judge have left office.