Judge Mulls Clinton Citation

The judge who oversaw Paula Jones' sexual-harassment suit against President Clinton said Tuesday she'll consider citing the president for contempt if she stays on the case.

Federal Judge Susan Webber Wright raised that possibility in a footnote to her decision on Sept. 1 to release a transcript of Mr. Clinton's testimony in a deposition.

She said in an order Tuesday that she had not considered the matter further because the case had been under appeal, and because impeachment proceedings were still pending against President Clinton.

A settlement agreed to by Mr. Clinton and Jones' lawyers in November ended the appeal issue, and on Friday the Senate ended the impeachment proceeding by voting to acquit the president.

"Accordingly, I believe that now it is time for the court to address the contempt issue," she said.

But she said she would step aside from the case if asked to do so, because she had contact with a House impeachment-case manager, Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., and because her law clerk provided an affidavit for possible use in the impeachment case.

She said Hutchinson wanted her testimony about Mr. Clinton's demeanor during his deposition testimony, including where his attention was directed. She said she was not willing to be a witness in the impeachment proceeding and suggested that other people could provide the same evidence.

Her law clerk, Barry Ward, later provided an affidavit about President Clinton's deposition.

The judge said she didn't think those were reasons for her to step aside. But she said she would do so if any of the lawyers involved in the case file a motion by noon Friday asking her to.

If that happens, the contempt matter as well as distribution of the $850,000 settlement paid by Mr. Clinton would be decided by another judge.

Jones filed her lawsuit in 1994. Judge Wright dismissed the lawsuit April 1 but Jones appealed the decision. The appeal was pending when she and President Clinton reached the settlement Nov. 13.

Jones' lawsuit brought to light the president's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and set in motion a criminal investigation that resulted in a historic House vote last month to impeach Mr. Clinton.

Jones alleged that Mr. Clinton, when he was governor of Arkansas, made a crude advance in a room at a Little Rock hotel in 1991. She was a state worker at the time. President Clinton denies her accusation.

Written By Tom Parsons