Impeachment Proceedings

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's impeachment trial is the 14th Senate trial in history, but only the second of a president. Like the others, his will help shape the outcome of future trials. Lyle Denniston of The Sun's national staff explores the constitutional arguments by House prosecutors laying out the precedents they want established.What does it mean to "set precedents" on impeachment?The Constitution says little on impeachment, and there have been few impeachment cases in U.S. history.

WASHINGTON -- A recent flurry of legal activity in the Supreme Court by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr gained him no ground in his criminal investigation of President Clinton -- and probably cost him some. The court refused to quickly sort out a series of disputes over grand jury testimony, raising questions about where the matter stands. Sun staff writer Lyle Denniston provided these answers.Why did Starr go to the Supreme Court?Met by what he considers repeated attempts to "impede" his investigation by legal maneuvering that seeks to block testimony before a grand jury, Starr asked the justices to step in quickly to stop those maneuvers.

When will the people of the U.S.A. wake up to the fact that the grand impostor President Obama will keep on ignoring Congress and issuing imperial edicts to accomplish his reelection effort ("Obama to halt deportation of some illegal immigrants," June 15)? Time for Congress to act and start impeachment proceedings. F. Cordell

Barry H. Landau, the once-esteemed collector of presidential memorabilia, admitted in federal court Tuesday that he stole thousands of documents regarded as cultural treasures from historical societies and libraries in Baltimore and up the East Coast. The 63-year-old's guilty plea, to two criminal counts involving theft of artwork, revealed a scheme in which prosecutors said he compiled lists of items to steal by matching names of historical figures, from poets to president, to their "potential monetary value.

Getty deserves cheers for action on per diemHow refreshing to read of the actions of Del. Joseph M. Getty of Carroll County.Wouldn't it be wonderful if our representatives in Washington would imitate his actions the next time they vote themselves another undeserved raise?One can dream.Ingeborg B. WeinbergerBaltimoreIsn't it refreshing to hear about an elected representative in Maryland, or anywhere for that matter, who places principles and integrity above political party loyalty? Three rousing cheers for Del. Joseph M. Getty of Carroll County.

HARTFORD, Conn. - State House Speaker Moira K. Lyons said last night that House Democrats have decided either to create an investigative committee or to begin impeachment proceedings against Gov. John G. Rowland. House Democrats who met in a closed-door caucus for about seven hours were leaning toward beginning the impeachment process against Rowland, a Republican, Lyons said. Lyons, of Stamford, said caucus members concluded that there was only one other option: forming an investigative committee with subpoena power.

George Danielson,83, a former congressman who was a member of the House Judiciary Committee when it considered impeachment proceedings against President Richard M. Nixon, died in Monterey Park, Calif., on Sept. 12 of heart failure.Thomas J. Murphy,91, a union negotiator who led the Newspaper Guild of New York for 22 years, died Wednesday in Hazlet, N.J.John Francis Jacobs,75, who worked on an early digital computer and helped found the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research and Engineering Corp.

HARTFORD, Conn. - As the realization sinks in that Republican Gov. John G. Rowland is not going to resign, more state residents support a legislative inquiry that could lead to his impeachment. The latest poll by the University of Connecticut, completed yesterday, shows that 64 percent want the impeachment inquiry to begin, an 8 percentage point increase compared with those polled a week earlier. The number of people who want the governor to resign remained at 63 percent. The number of people who said they would vote to impeach Rowland - that is, to see him tried in the state Senate - also remained steady, at 54 percent.

LONDON -- Even in the darkest hours of his administration, President Clinton seems to have some British friends left, although they may be a diminishing band.One day after Prime Minister Tony Blair backed Clinton in the Houses of Commons,the normally conservative Times of London newspaper scored a few blows yesterday against the president's congressional rivals.The Times labeled as 'highly irresponsible," the decision by Republican leaders to move ahead with impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives while the U.S.-British air campaign continued in Iraq."

Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr's investigation of President Clinton covers allegations that Clinton lied under oath about an affair with a young White House intern and urged her to also lie about it if asked.Specifically, according to sources, Clinton stated in his deposition in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual misconduct case that he never had a sexual relationship with the former intern, Monica Lewinsky. Starr is trying to determine whether the president lied in saying so and whether he instructed Lewinsky to lie in her deposition.