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An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton | 
| Author: Richard A. Posner
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $16.95
New (12) Used (21) from $1.50
Rating:  40 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0674003918
Dewey Decimal Number: 342
EAN: 9780674003910
ASIN: 0674003918
Publication Date: November 1, 2000
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
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
Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Judge Posner does it again!!! February 4, 2001
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
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. Judge Posner concludes that the articles of impeachment filed against the President were indeed within the realm of high crimes and misdemeanors; additionally, Judge Posner argues that, contrary to popular spin, the actions of the President went beyond that of a private matter, bringing shame, disgrace, and disruption to the executive office -- actions which by themselves supported impeachment. Of most interest, however, is Judge Posner's excoriating portrayal of all parties involved. A president, who deliberately lied to the nation, his family, his cabinet, and his supporters, in a blatant effort to obstruct justice. A prosecutor, who failed in his effort at developing a strong case against the president, provided an overly lurid account of the case, and then buried the record in mountains of evidence. A house of representatives, incapable of developing accurate articles of impeachment, and then failing miserably in the prosecution of the case in the senate. A senate, so inept as to have never developed appropriate rules for an impeachment trial. And finally, partisan groups from both sides, who in the urge to defend or defeat the president, daily set forth on a path of lies and insinuations, often with the sole purpose of damaging the characters of individuals under media glare. The book is well worth reading, and is an excellent reminder of the damage an impeachment trial can do. Readers who are further interested in impeachment generally should consider Michael J. Gerhardt's The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis.
 Excellent on the Law, but falls short of its goal January 29, 2001
Alan Mills (Chicago, Illinois USA)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
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 impeachment process worked.As a judge, he does a magnificent job (especially as he completed this book within days of the final vote) of cutting to the quick of the legal charges against Clinton, and examining the evidence that pretty undisputably proves Clinton "guilty". But, and this is a very big but, his strength as a judge is Posner's weakness as a historian. He assumes, without proving, that the true issue in impeachment is (or should be) the legal issue. He virtually ignores the competing view, that the key issue is (and should be) political. Only by reading this book in combination with Rhenquit's history of the Samuel Chase and Andrew Johnson impeachments can you get a more rounded view. As a matter of law, Clinton was guilty. However, we were not involved in a criminal trial. We were deciding whether to remove this country's highest elected official. This is a highly political question, to which the legal issues are relevent, but hardly decisive. By failing to grapple honestly with this dichotomy, Posner's book ultimately falls short of being the definitive work on impeachment it could have been, given his incisive analysis of th elegal issues and the evidence.
Best of all impeachment books January 24, 2001
Andrew M. Strnad (Milwaukee, WI USA)
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. Posner removes the gloves for all parties involved and strikes many direct hits. While most of Posner's books are for the lawyerly elite, this book can be enjoyed by anybody who has a basic understanding of what happened during the Clinton scandal and is looking for a brilliant analysis.
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