The Trial of Queen Caroline and the Impeachment of President Clinton: Law as a Weapon for Political Reform

Abstract

This article explores the calculated use of legal mechanisms to impact national politics and the effect such utilization had on accomplishing deliberate political reform. In answering why political actors use legal procedures as political weapons and whether such use is effective, this paper analyzes two historical examples to illustrate that law as political weapon is extremely successful in accomplishing political change. In the early 1800's, England's King sought to defrock his politically radical heroine Queen Caroline through the parliamentary mechanism of a Bill of Pains and Penalties, which caused a flourish of public criticism and call for political revolution. Public reaction to the legal mechanisms utilized by King resulted in accomplishing the King's goal of quelling revolutionary zeal as well as subsequently radically reforming English parliamentary politics. In a similar vein, the U.S. Congress in 1998 utilized the legal mechanisms of impeachment to unseat President William Jefferson Clinton. Impeachment of President Clinton served the Republican Congress' political interests and resulted in the Republicans obtaining great electoral success. Ultimately, discussion of these two historical epochs advocates future use of legal procedures as political weapons in only certain limited circumstances.

Keywords: queen caroline, president clinton, impeachment, trial, law, political, weapon

JEL Classification: K10, K19, K40, K33, K39, K49, K42