Time: Tue Jun 24 09:02:56 1997
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Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 09:00:26 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: 8th Circuit Ruling upheld
<snip>
>
> U.S. high court rejects White House notes appeal
>
> by James Vicini
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Supreme Court dealt the White
>House a major defeat Monday, effectively requiring it to give
>Whitewater prosecutors notes lawyers took during discussions
>with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
>
> The high court rejected a White House appeal, letting stand
>a U.S. appeals court ruling that attorney-client privilege did
>not apply to the notes, subpoenaed by Whitewater independent
>counsel Kenneth Starr as part of a grand jury investigation.
>
> The action was taken without any explanation or dissent and
>means that the notes, which have been at the center of a long
>legal battle, will have to be turned over. It represents a major
>setback for the White House, the first lady and the Justice
>Department, all of which urged the high court to hear the case
>and rule that attorney-client privilege applied.
>
> Starr has conducted a long investigation into Whitewater, a
>complex web of Arkansas business deals involving the Clintons,
>and into allegations of a later coverup. President
> Clinton and his wife have not been accused of wrongdoing.
>
> The White House immediately expressed regret that its appeal
>had been unsuccessful.
>
> ``We continue to believe that government lawyers must be
>allowed to have confidential discussions with their clients if
>they are able to provide candid and effective legal advice,''
>White House counsel Charles Ruff said in a statement.
>
> ``We regret that the court has decided not to resolve this
>important issue,'' he said.
>
> The Supreme Court's denial of the appeal marked Clinton's
>second stinging defeat in less than a month. The high court
>ruled unanimously last month that Paula Jones' sexual harassment
>lawsuit against Clinton could go forward rather than being put
>on hold until he left office.
>
> The Whitewater case involved conversations Hillary Clinton
>had on July 11, 1995, and Jan. 26, 1996. White House lawyers
>took notes while she talked with her private Whitewater
>attorney, David Kendall.
>
> The 1995 notes related to her actions after the suicide of
>White House Deputy Counsel Vince Foster, who previously worked
>with her at a Little Rock law firm. The 1996 notes dealt with
>her testimony before a federal grand jury that day about her law
>firm's billing records for work she did for a failing savings
>and loan company owned by her Whitewater partner.
>
> The billing records, missing for a time, mysteriously
>reappeared in the White House family residence and were not
>turned over to Whitewater prosecutors until two years after
>being subpoenaed. According to court papers filed earlier,
>prosecutors described Hillary Clinton as a central figure in the
>probe and said she had changed her testimony in the course of
>the lengthy investigation.
>
> Attorneys representing her and the White House appealed to
>the Supreme Court, saying the long-standing legal doctrine of
>attorney-client privilege protected the notes.
>
> The appeal was supported by the Justice Department and by a
>group of former White House counsels and other top lawyers from
>Democratic and Republican administrations. They said the Court
>of Appeals ruling requiring the notes' surrender could prevent
>the president and other government officials from seeking full
>and frank advice from their lawyers.
>
> Starr argued that the appeal should be denied. He said that
>the White House had already turned over similar notes on
>communications between government attorneys and White House
>officials and that granting the White House appeal would delay
>his investigation for as long as a year.
>
<snip>
========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
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========================================================================
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