Monitor: The American press comments on the ruling which finds Clinton in contempt of court

All the News of the World

THANKS TO Federal Judge Susan Webber Wright, Clinton can now lay claim to another shameful distinction: he's not just our second president to be impeached, he's also the only president ever to be held in contempt of court. He may truly believe that his acquittal salvaged his reputation. But he now stands branded as a willful, deliberate, contemptuous liar. That is his shame to bear - and all America's, too.

New York Post

WRIGHT FOUND Clinton in civil contempt of court. The second president to be impeached becomes the first to be so cited. The monetary penalty attached to the contempt ruling includes payment to Jones for attorneys' fees and similar expenses arising out of Clinton's "willful failure" to give honest answers in his deposition. Clinton, a lawyer, could be disbarred under a canon prohibiting "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation". It has long been obvious that his deposition in the Jones suit, in which he swore "I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky", was a lie.

LA Times

JUDGE WEBBER Wright's ruling puts into the legal and historical record that Clinton was untruthful and deliberately misleading, and assigns a legal sanction to uphold the rule of law. The financial penalties calling for the President to reimburse the court $1,202 to cover the expenses incurred by the judge in travelling to Washington to preside over "his tainted deposition", and to pay Ms Jones any expenses incurred because of his untruthful behaviour are symbolic. He would be wise not to challenge them. The Judge has signalled her desire to bring this matter to a close.

New York Times

IN CASE we had forgotten what justice was, a judge in Little Rock reminded the country yesterday. Judge Wright held Clinton in contempt of court for not testifying truthfully. President or no president, there are apparently some things Judge Wright is not going to put up with in her court. It was electrifying, it was galvanizing, to be reminded that there is still law, there is still truth, there is still justice.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette