High Court Puts Clinton on Notice

Amid a thick list of orders issued Monday by the Supreme Court, one stood out:

“Bill Clinton of New York, New York, is suspended from the practice of law in this Court . . . requiring him to show cause why he should not be disbarred.”

Court officials said the action was the automatic result of the former president’s five-year disbarment in Arkansas, a condition he agreed to in January as part of his settlement with the Whitewater independent counsel’s office.

Under terms of that deal, negotiated with independent counsel Robert W. Ray on Clinton’s last day in office, Clinton ensured that he would not be criminally prosecuted for making false statements about his affair with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky.

The former president agreed to give up his Arkansas law license for five years and to pay a $25,000 fine to resolve a scandal that had shadowed his last three years in office. Most critically, he acknowledged formally that he had given false testimony under oath about his relationship with Lewinsky.

Monday, the Supreme Court justices gave Clinton 40 days to convince them that he should not be permanently disbarred from practicing law before them. Clinton’s private attorney, David E. Kendall, said he would argue that permanent disbarment would be too harsh a penalty.

“We will show cause [to the court] why disbarment is not appropriate,” Kendall said.

Some of the former president’s opponents saw in the court’s action an immediate opportunity to rekindle the fires of the impeachment debate. Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal organization based in Washington, said he would file a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court to try to ensure Clinton’s permanent exclusion from the court.

“The former president should be held to the same standards as other legal practitioners because no one is above the law,” Klayman said.

Clinton is not expected to practice law again.