The Immunity Spectator/More Questions
Brutish, Solitary, Poor, Nasty & Short
More Questions by Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish & Short T he president's taxpayer-financed counsel, Lloyd Cutler, and his lobbyist-funded private counsel, Robert Bennett, evidently intend to argue...
...10) If the president is immune because all of his time is needed for Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, North Korea, increasing taxes, and proclaiming national holidays, does that mean when the president attends a Barbra Streisand concert, he is shirking his constitutional responsibilities...
...15) If the president expects to be immune until 2001, should he be required to post a bond so that Paula Jones will be assured that there will be resources from which she can recover when she finally is allowed to proceed...
...8) Does presidential immunity mean immunity from criminal prosecution...
...9) Does presidential immunity excuse the president from having to pay taxes...
...4) If the president cannot be forcedto pay his bills, does presidential use of credit cards constitute fraud...
...Can Mr...
...CI 82 The American Spectator September 1994...
...Should it be a tattoo...
...18) Should our laws be amended to make it clear to the public that they don't apply to the president...
...Does he enjoy such immunity in his role as president of the Senate...
...Bennett's $475per-hour legal fees...
...7) Is the president immune from civil suits brought by the United States...
...Can he refuse, unlike President Nixon, to surrender his tapes...
...Can she sue the president for sexual harassment if Paula Jones cannot...
...Shoot a spotted owl...
...Is she immune from suit as well...
...What should it say...
...By seeking to delay the suit, is the president suggesting that Paula Jones is not an American...
...6) Is the president also immune from complying with court orders issued before he became president...
...Should the president be required to wear a warning label...
...May he ignore a subpoena to testify in the defense of Trooper Ferguson...
...13) The president's lawyers argue that if the Jones suit is allowed to go forward, there will be a flood of similar suits filed against the president...
...12) The first lady has been held to be a virtual government official...
...Can the president sue the first lady for spousal abuse...
...Shouldn't his day in court be during the twentieth century...
...17) If the president does not have to answer in court to the Jones charges, shouldn't he also be immune from congressional investigations and questions by reporters...
...The president's claim to be the only person in the United States immune to the litigation explosion raises interesting questions that the judge considering this unprecedented assertion will surely wish to consider: (1) The Constitution explicitly grants a limited form of immunity to members of Congress: they may not be arrested "during attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going and returning from the same...
...If so, what if the president fails to raise enough money for Mr...
...Bennett sue to get paid...
...The president's formidable legal team argue that their client is immune during his presidency from civil liability based on private conduct—even conduct that preceded his presidency—because such suits would impose an intolerable burden on the president's time...
...11) Does the vice president enjoy immunity from a civil suit...
...Although the Supreme Court has held that the president has absolute immunity from liability for presidential decisions, the Constitution nowhere mentions that he is immune from civil suits for his private transgressions...
...Aren't those matters equally distracting...
...Should the public be put on notice that the president is above the law...
...16) Should Paula Jones be allowed to take depositions to preserve evidence while she awaits her opportunity to pursue her case...
...Is his immunity limited to acts performed on days when he is breaking a tie vote in the Senate or attending funerals...
...Can the president refuse to pay off a mortgage taken out before he took office...
...2) What is the legal source of presidential immunity from civil suit...
...Does the president enjoy an implied right of immunity greater than the explicit grant of immunity given to members of Congress by the text of the Constitution...
...5) Does the Cutler-Bennett immunity doctrine mean that the president is immune from serving as a witness...
...Are some tax audits permissible, but "really burdensome" tax audits constitutionally prohibited...
...14) When Congressman Rostenkowski was indicted, the president stated that "all Americans" have the right to their day in court...
...More Questions by Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish & Short T he president's taxpayer-financed counsel, Lloyd Cutler, and his lobbyist-funded private counsel, Robert Bennett, evidently intend to argue that the president is immune from civil suit for his private conduct, at least during his tenure as president...
...Why has no other president ever claimed such immunity...
...3) Does presidential immunity extend to suits for breach of contract...
...and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place" (Article 1, Section 6...
...May the president fill in a wetland...
...Should the presidential defense fund be required to include funds for Paula Jones's lawyers, or for a fund to pay for a judgment in her favor...
...If immunity from civil suit does not mean immunity from criminal prosecution, why is it too much of an inconvenience to respond to Paula Jones's suit, but not too much of an imposition, for example, to defend against criminal charges for complicity in accepting a bribe disguised as a commodities windfall...
...Does that mean that the president has engaged in other private conduct for which he expects to be sued...
...And shouldn't the president have his day in court...
...Prevent the foreclosure of a vacation home if he doesn't make his monthly payments...
Vol. 27 • September 1994 • No. 9
