Contempt of Court

August 9, 1999

It appears that the final chapter of the Paula Corbin Jones sexual misconduct lawsuit has now been written. A Federal judge ordered the president to pay Ms. Jones' lawyers nearly $90,000 in compensation for extra work they performed because of the president's false testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

The financial penalty is part of the unprecedented finding of contempt of court by Judge Susan Webber Wright. In April she ruled that the president had been in contempt for knowingly lying about his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky when questioned by Ms. Jones' lawyers. In her ruling, the judge said "The Court takes no pleasure in imposing contempt sanctions against this nation's President and, no doubt like many others, grows weary of this matter. Nevertheless, the Court has determined that the President deliberately violated this Court's discovery orders, thereby undermining the integrity of the judicial system, and that sanctions must be imposed to redress the President's misconduct and to deter others who might consider emulating the President's misconduct."

Hopefully that is the lesson to be learned and not that you can get away with lying. John Whitehead, whose group funded Ms. Jones' legal expenses said he was pleased that "the bottom line philosophy shows that in the end, not even a President can get away with lying before a Federal judge."

Young people have been watching this spectacle, and we can only hope and pray that they learned that lying is wrong. Even though the president was not removed from office during the impeachment process, he and his family paid a heavy price. Only time will tell if the nation paid an even higher price by allowing young people to think they can get away with lying.

I'm Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that's my opinion.