An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton

by The Honorable Richard A. Posner (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0674000803

ISBN-10: 0674000803

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President Bill Clinton's year of crisis, which began when his affair with Monica Lewinsky hit the front pages in January 1998, engendered a host of important questions of criminal and constitutional law, public and private morality, and political and cultural conflict.

In a book written while the events of the year were unfolding, Richard Posner presents a balanced and scholarly understanding of the crisis that also has the freshness and immediacy of journalism. Posner clarifies the issues and eliminates misunderstandings concerning facts and the law that were relevant to the investigation by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and to the impeachment proceeding itself. He explains the legal definitions of obstruction of justice and perjury, which even many lawyers are unfamiliar with. He carefully assesses the conduct of Starr and his prosecutors, including their contacts with the lawyers for Paula Jones and their hardball tactics with Monica Lewinsky and her mother. He compares and contrasts the Clinton affair with Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, exploring the subtle relationship between public and private morality. And he examines the place of impeachment in the American constitutional scheme, the pros and cons of impeaching President Clinton, and the major procedural issues raised by both the impeachment in the House and the trial in the Senate. This book, reflecting the breadth of Posner's experience and expertise, will be the essential foundation for anyone who wants to understand President Clinton's impeachment ordeal.

An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton

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Editorial Reviews

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Richard Posner is a top-ranking member of the United States judiciary and one of the most highly respected legal theorists and philosophers. In An Affair of State, he turns his attention to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, which stemmed from charges of perjury and obstruction of justice regarding statements about his adulterous relationship with former White House staffer Monica Lewinsky. While Posner focuses on the actual legal issues involved rather than attempt to make a case for Clinton's or any of his Republican adversaries' being evil incarnate, he does not treat the president with kid gloves. Not only does Posner claim that Clinton is a brazen liar who "flaunts his religiosity, but gives religion a bad name," he makes a strong case that the charges of perjury against the president were valid, "that [he] in several instances obstructed justice in a legal sense, and that he has never admitted lying about his relationship with Lewinsky." Along the way, Posner considers several fascinating topics, including whether the president can pardon himself--theoretically, except in cases of impeachment, he can--and even, on occasion, displays a subtle dry wit. (Among the best one-liners: "[Alan] Dershowitz criticizes Clinton, but largely for the blunders he committed in trying to conceal his affair ... and implicitly for not having retained Dershowitz as legal advisor.") An Affair of State is the smartest, most level-headed book written to date about what Posner calls "the whole Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr-impeachment business"; it is likely to retain that status for some time to come. --Ron Hogan

From Publishers Weekly

By far the most legally sophisticated account of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal yet published, Posner's book brings scholarly rigor to a saga so far dominated by journalistic accounts. As Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Posner is more than qualified to wade through the 8000-page Starr Report. Indeed, he brandishes acumen, wit and a practical and theoretical understanding of the legal and constitutional issues involved. Posner writes, at times, like a judge composing an appellate court opinion. He's very critical of the House Judiciary Committee for, among other perceived lapses of judgment and intellect, failing to understand the technical distinction between perjury and obstruction of justice. But he's harsh on President Clinton, too, and generally exhibits an ability to expose the arguments generated by Republicans, Democrats, the press and Starr's office as inconsistent, politically motivated or simply fallacious. Posner anticipates criticisms that his book creates certain tensions between his position as one of the most influential judges in the U.S. and the censorious quality of his appraisal of l'affaire Clinton. Readers can be thankful that he dismissed any scruples and proceeded to write this welcome analysis of the constitutional, moral, philosophical, and political questions the case raised. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press (September 1, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0674000803
ISBN-13: 978-0674000803
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,274,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1573 in Books > Textbooks > Law > Constitutional Law
- #3122 in Books > Law > Constitutional Law > General
- #4719 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Political Science > Government

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The Next Century's History -- Today

ByA customeron September 10, 1999

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Every day I get up and thank heaven that I'm fortunate enough to be alive during Judge Posner's career. He is certainly the first person to be conversant with so large a portion of the culture of his times since Aristotle, or perhaps Aquinas, and his writing is far more clever and enjoyable to read that that of either of those philosophers. Posner is probably the first writer to articulate what is likely to be the unbiased verdict of history on Clinton after the current axes are long ground. The book's grandest accomplishment is not only to show that the emperor has no clothes (a peculiarly apt metaphor), but to identify the hypocrisy and hyperbole of numerous intellectuals and academics who ought never to be taken seriously again, such as Abner Mikva, Alan Dershowitz, Ronald Dworkin and other ventriloquist dummies for James Carville. This isn't to say that Posner is partisan, as he has plenty of criticism for congressional Republicans. In fact, the only real bias shown is for the truth and against the chutezpah that so many people tried to pass off during the whole Monica affair.

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Keep your mind open and you will enjoy this book.

ByTheresa in Texason October 23, 1999

Format: Hardcover

No one can read this book without appreciating the facile mind and no-holds-barred candor of Judge Posner. I would recommend that readers let down their defenses and drop their emotional attachments to any fixed point of view they came to hold during the Lewinsky scandal. If you don't have an open mind you won't enlarge your understanding of this historical event in our nation's history.
Judge Posner serves the reader and the law well when he describes the difference between popular justice and legal justice. There is a difference, a crucial one. It is something Americans should not be confused about. If you are confused, you should read the book.
In addition, Judge Posner takes pains to examine his subject matter from the angle of every interest group, partisan advocate and player in the ordeal. You may not agree with everything he says, but he says something about everything. He believes that the smearing of Kenneth Starr was obvious slander and an effective but repulsive tactic. He says that President Clinton was not able to confess his crimes fully to the public and be redeemed because of his fear of indictment. In his view the Starr Report was too invasive of the President's privacy. And he asserts that prosecutors should not be put on trail with the defendant. His point that we should not worry about the plight of convicted felons was long overdue. Take that, Geraldo!
I was disappointed that Judge Posner chose to mock his senior, Justice Renquist, three times for the inconsequential matter of wearing a few gold stripes on his robe. One fondly worded quip would have been sufficient.
Getting past that low moment, you may find this book will have you thinking to yourself, "That's just how I saw it." And perhaps you may find yourself giving some credence to a point of view you rejected before. Posner even touches on the entertainment value of the scandal, and he does it in an entertaining way. There is not one boring sentence in this entire book.

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pragmatic, not partisan

ByA customeron April 6, 2000

Format: Hardcover

This book is not partisan as some reviewers have claimed. Itis pragmatic.
It also seems strange to judge the book solely bythe highly debatable point of whether or not Posner violated the Canonof Judicial Ethics in writing it.
Should Clinton have been impeached, and if impeached, convicted? Richard Posner says the question is unanswerable. So why read this book?
This book shows how an outstanding mind thinks through important legal and moral issues where existing law and precedent are unclear or inconclusive. It is highly critical of almost everyone involved, including Republicans, the Supreme Court, Clinton's defenders, William Bennett, the TV pundits and 'intellectuals' who commented on the case. The four hours I spent reading this book were far more interesting, clarifying and valuable by far than the many hours I spent in front of the TV during the year or so of the crisis. Too bad this book wasn't available in the early months of the crisis. A lot of misleading and inaccurate information and thought could have been sorted through much more easily.
Here are a few of the many interesting points made by Posner, with which I agree:
1. It is on the ground of disrespect for his office and for decency in the conduct of government that the most powerful case for impeachment and conviction could have been pitched.
2. A President has a duty to avoid becoming enmeshed in a scandal that is likely to weaken his effectiveness. In running that risk, for wholly personal rewards, the Clinton exhibited a high degree of personal irresponsibility. That was a personal failing. But the avoidance of scandal is also a public duty - a precondition to the effective discharge of the President's other public duties.
3. A pragmatic decision-maker wants decisions to be based on an assessment of their probable consequences. In legal cases, and a fortiori in impeachment, which is only quasi-legal, this is a legitimate or at least common approach when the conventional materials of legal decision-making, such as precedent or a clear statutory or consittutional text, yield no direction. Since it is unknowable whether the good consequences of impeaching and removing Clinton outweigh the bad, the pragmatist would lean against impoeachment.
4. Those who claim that the failure to impeach Clinton makes what he did OK, or puts him 'above the law' are just wrong. He remains subject to the ordinary processes of the law, whether during or after his term.
5. To keep on lying after no one believes you does not mislead, but it shows contempt for truth and truthfulness.
6. Clinton made a travesty of the religious rite of atonement by asking for forgiveness and absolution without offering to incur any cost.

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Most recent customer reviews

Like Danielle Steele

Judge Richard Posner churns out books with the speed and depth of Danielle Steele. 'An Affair of State' was the second of his that I read, and it will be the last.Read more

Published on November 26, 2006 by Harry Eagar

Judge Posner does it again!!!

Judge Posner has written a concise and accurate analysis of the impeachment and trial of President Clinton, and included thorough and accurate assessments of all parties involved.Read more

Published on February 3, 2001 by Amazon Customer

Excellent on the Law, but falls short of its goal

Posner promises to rip the cover off the impeachment process by sorting through the spin and uncovering the truth of what Clinton was charged with, what he did, and how the...Read more

Published on January 29, 2001 by Alan Mills

Best of all impeachment books

After reading all of the impeachment books, and I mean all of them, including Benedict's fabulous book on Johnson's impeachment trial, this is the best.Read more

Published on January 23, 2001 by Andrew M. Strnad

Promises more than it delivers

Judge Posner promises a far-reaching analysis of the impeachment and trial of President Clinton. In his introduction, he notes that the "ordeal" presented numerous axes...Read more

Published on January 14, 2001 by Adam Mossoff

Promises more than it delivers

Judge Posner promises a far-reaching analysis of the impeachment and trial of President Clinton. In his introduction, he notes that the "ordeal" presented numerous axes...Read more

Published on January 11, 2001 by Adam Mossoff

No Better Legal Analysis of The Clinton Impeachment

I know of no book which cuts so surely to the meat and potatoes of the entire Clinton impeachment business and with such deadly aplomb as Judge Posner's book (he is chief judge of...Read more

Published on December 23, 2000 by BluesDuke

A Level-Head Examination

This brief book is a well written level-headed examination of the mess created by President Clinton as a result of his lack of ethics.Read more

Published on November 24, 2000 by Book Happy

The Scholarly Approach

Readers seeking another saucy expose on the President's personal affairs will be disappointed with "An Affair of State.Read more

Published on November 2, 2000 by Steven M. Leonard

The judge speaks, but judges not.

Anyone interested in the affairs of President Clinton's last two years, will find this book of value.Read more

Published on May 5, 2000

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