By Sherry F. Colb - On March 11, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace topped the news. Federal investigators had caught Spitzer -known to them as "Client 9" -- arranging for a prostitute named "Kristen" to meet him for an assignation at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.
Ten years ago, in 1998, as readers will doubtless recall, a different sex scandal made headlines across the globe. Then, it was President Bill Clinton who stood in the glare of the cameras. As he finally admitted, months after the allegations first surfaced, he had engaged in an inappropriate (i.e., sexual) relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern in her early 20's...
Spitzer's Fall
As Attorney General, Spitzer had pursued the prosecution of sex rings. As governor, he played a pivotal role in passing a human trafficking law that would punish prostitutes' clients. In so doing, he had evidenced an understanding for the claims of human rights organizations that sex traffic begins with demand, and that criminal penalties must therefore target consumers rather than sex workers.
As it has emerged, however, following the shocking announcement on March 11, Spitzer had himself contributed to the demand that fuels the sex trade - an industry that Spitzer had called "modern-day slavery" - and had spent tens of thousands of dollars purchasing the services of the Emperor's Club V.I.P., an online prostitution ring. ...
Clinton's Fall
Like Spitzer's, Clinton's admission of sexual misconduct included an acknowledgment of the pain that his behavior had caused his family. Clinton also indicated that his actions were wrong. He did not, however, resign from office and allow his vice president - Al Gore - to continue the important work of running the country.
A Republican-controlled House of Representatives subsequently impeached Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice ...
...The Senate, however, acquitted Clinton of the charges, and he continued in office until the end of his term, though he had his license to practice law in Arkansas suspended and his membership in the U.S. Supreme Court bar revoked in the aftermath of the trial.
Similarities and Differences Between the Spitzer and Clinton Scenarios
...First, though both Clinton and Spitzer appeared to have been repeat players in the marital infidelity game, Clinton's conduct generally did not violate the criminal law, while Spitzer's did. I say "generally," because one woman did accuse Clinton of raping her in a hotel room in 1978, an allegation corroborated by a friend who had met with the woman immediately after the alleged attack. Clinton denied the accusations, which never faced the test of a trial. Other alleged Clinton relationships, however, appeared to qualify as consensual, at least for purposes of the criminal law (sexual harassment does, of course, raise some issues of coercion).
... For the most powerful man in the world to have sexual relations with an intern (who was apparently in love with the President) might be consensual, but it does exploit a power imbalance that could hardly be more stark. Similarly, we have no evidence that Spitzer compelled Kristen or other sex workers to engage in conduct against their will. Nonetheless, the role of a prostitute - being offered to a client for his sexual gratification in exchange for money (in this case, at least $1000 an hour) - does not exactly place the man and the woman in the relationship on reciprocal footing. Read the full story here
Sherry F. Colb, a FindLaw columnist, is currently a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School and will be joining the Cornell Law School faculty in the fall. Her book, When Sex Counts: Making Babies and Making Law, is currently available on Amazon.
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