Clinton v. Jones

Clinton v. Jones
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 13, 1997 Decided May 27, 1997
Full case name	William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States of America, Petitioner v. Paula Corbin Jones
Citations	520 U.S. 681 (more) 117 S. Ct. 1636; 137 L. Ed. 2d 945; 1997 U.S. LEXIS 3254; 65 U.S.L.W. 4372; 73 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1548; 73 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1549; 70 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) ¶ 44,686; 97 Cal. Daily Op. Service 3908; 97 Daily Journal DAR 6669; 10 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 499
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	Motion to defer granted, motion for immunity denied, 869 F. Supp. 690 (E.D. Ark. 1994); motion to defer reversed, 72 F.3d 1354 (8th Cir. 1996)
Subsequent	Motion for summary judgment granted, 990 F. Supp. 657 (E.D. Ark. 1998); motion affirmed, 161 F.3d 528 (8th Cir. 1998)
Holding
The Constitution does not protect the President from federal civil litigation involving actions committed before entering office. There is no requirement to stay the case until the President leaves office.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Stevens, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg
Concurrence	Breyer (in judgment)
Laws applied
U.S. Const. art. II

Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case establishing that a sitting President of the United States has no immunity from civil law litigation, in federal court, for acts done before taking office and unrelated to the office.^[1] In particular, there is no temporary immunity and thus no delay of federal cases until the President leaves office.^[1]