He may be beaten to it: on February 16th Susan Webber Wright, the federal judge in the Paula Jones case, said she would explore imposing civil sanctions on Mr Clinton for misleading testimony in that case about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

ECONOMIST: Did you say,��Over��?

If the President were not involved, if an ordinary citizen were the subject of the inquiry, no serious consideration would be given to a criminal prosecution arising from alleged misconduct in discovery in the Jones civil case having to do with an alleged coverup of a private sexual affair with another woman or the follow-on testimony before the grand jury.

CNN: Sen. Sarbanes' closed-door impeachment statement

Against the advice of the defence ministry's top civil servant, ministers sent the scientist to undergo a grilling by a parliamentary inquiry into the affair, at which he claimed not to recognise the reporter's words as having come from his briefing.

ECONOMIST: Dr Spin quits | The

The Jones lawsuit sparked the White House sex scandal after her lawyers turned up allegations that Clinton had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and urged her to lie under oath in the civil suit.

CNN: Congressional Reaction Split Along Party Lines

The Watergate affair, however, highlighted the need to strike a balance between national security concerns and American's civil liberties.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The Case Against the Halperin Nomination -- First Edition