Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As presidential friend Vernon Jordan testified
before the Whitewater grand jury today, a federal
appeals court upheld a
judge's decision to conduct closed proceedings on
executive privilege and
other matters related to the probe.
Jordan was making a return appearance, having
testified for two days last
March -- partly about his efforts to find Monica
Lewinsky a private sector
job.
The U.S. Court of Appeals denied a motion by a dozen
media
organizations for immediate access to proceedings and
papers related to
the investigation of a possible presidential affair
and coverup.
Besides executive privilege, other related issues were
the contention of
President Clinton that Independent Counsel Kenneth
Starr leaked grand
jury material to the media; and objections by Ms.
Lewinsky's first lawyer,
Francis D. Carter, to his own grand jury subpoena.
However, the court did order Chief U.S. District Judge
Norma Holloway
Johnson to reconsider two issues: her refusal to allow
entries on the public
docket involving these matters; and her denial of
media requests for edited
papers, orders and transcripts involving Carter's
subpoena.
Public docket entries would allow the media to argue
for open
proceedings before hearings are held. In Carter's
case, the appellate court
noted, the lawyer's own attorney revealed that Carter
was subpoenaed by
the grand jury.
``As a matter of judicial administration, initially
closing all ancillary
proceedings makes good sense,'' the three-judge panel
of the U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals wrote. ``If a hearing is about
something affecting a
grand jury investigation, there will nearly always be
a danger of revealing
grand jury matters''
The decision said ``neither the press nor any member
of the public has a
First Amendment right to demand'' that open hearings
be held when
there's a danger of revealing secret grand jury
material.
Agreeing that assertions of executive privilege by a
president is a matter
``of intense public interest,'' the court said there
is no history of such
proceedings being public.
However, the judges pointed out that the chief judge
has authority --
under court rules -- to make public portions of
hearing transcripts that
would not disclose grand jury material. A White House
counsel told the
court during oral argument that lawyers were
submitting proposed edited
transcripts that the judge could release on the
executive privilege
arguments.
In addition to Jordan's testimony today, sources
familiar with the situation
said Betty Currie, Clinton's secretary, would make
another grand jury
appearance as early as Wednesday.
Prosecutors want to know whether Clinton had an affair
with Ms.
Lewinsky and asked her to lie about it, and whether
Jordan knowingly
played a role in trying to keep her from telling the
truth.
Clinton has denied that he had a sexual relationship
with Ms. Lewinsky
and asked her to lie about it.
After his March testimony, Jordan told reporters he
helped Ms. Lewinsky
search for private employment in New York and
introduced her to her
first attorney. He also said he ``kept the president
of the United States
informed about my activities.''
But Jordan insisted that he ``did not in any way tell
her, encourage her, to
lie; and secondly, that my efforts to find her a job
were not a quid pro quo
for the affidavit that she signed'' in the Paula Jones
case, denying an affair
with Clinton.
--
Two rules in life:
1. Don't tell people everything you know.
2.
Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
