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HenchPAC NewsThe Arkansas Supreme Court committee seeking President Clinton's disbarment in a court filing Thursday denied two requests from the president's attorneys. Clinton's counsel wants the committee to admit that it has never initiated disbarment proceedings against a lawyer for actions not involving the attorney's law practice or not involving an attorney's felony or misdemeanor conviction.
The state Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct in its Pulaski County Circuit Court filing also denied a request from the president's lawyers to admit that no lawyer licensed in Arkansas has ever been disbarred for conduct "outside the active practice of law which did not involve a criminal conviction."
Lawyers representing Clinton and the committee on Nov. 9 filed fact-finding documents renewing their respective legal arguments in the case. These "requests for admissions" are made of opposing parties in lawsuits and generally are intended to elicit responses to bolster the case of the side asking the questions.
The list filed Nov. 9 by the president's lawyers includes 26 requests for admissions.
Among the committee's admissions are that Clinton has no prior disciplinary record in his capacity as a lawyer and that he cooperated fully with the committee in its investigation of his alleged conduct. The committee also admits that while Clinton didn't directly appeal an order from Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright of Little Rock finding him in contempt of court for giving intentionally false testimony in a deposition in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual-harassment case, Clinton's lawyers subsequently wrote Wright that Clinton still disputed Wright's conclusion that the president lied under oath.
The committee on June 30 filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court seeking Clinton's disbarment. The lawsuit contends that Clinton's conduct as judged by Wright constituted "serious misconduct" and that Clinton violated Arkansas lawyer conduct rules that prohibit lawyers from engaging in "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" and "conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice."
In his Aug. 29 response to the committee's June 30 disbarment suit, Clinton denied that he lied under oath in his Jan. 17, 1998, deposition in the Jones lawsuit against him in a deposition he gave about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
In his response, Clinton denies that he violated the rules and says disbarment is too harsh a penalty for his conduct in the Jones case. The president has acknowledged in court filings that he gave "misleading" testimony to protect himself and his family from embarrassment.
The committee's complaint was based on Wright's 1999 memorandum opinion and order. Wright referred her order to the committee for its review.
No trial date has been set in the case.
HENCH adds: The wheels keep grinding, and one day in the not-too-distant future, Klink is going to have to sit in an Arkansas courthouse while his law license, and any insane hope he had of becoming a Supreme Court Justice, is taken away for good.
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