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 Exercise 8.12
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History was made when the U.S. Senate acquitted President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice in his impeachment trial. Presiding over the trial was U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. After the trial ended, The Associated Press transmitted a story about Rehnquist by writer Laurie Asseo.
The story follows. After you have read it, try rewriting the summary lead into a lead block, using one of the special leads discussed in this chapter.
You must use the information contained in the story. Don't make up anything.
WASHINGTON (AP)—Presiding over the Senate trial was a bit of a "culture shock," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said Friday as he completed his duties as only the second chief justice to oversee a presidential impeachment trial.
"I leave you now a wiser, but not a sadder, man," Rehnquist told senators shortly after pronouncing President Clinton "not guilty as charged" on both impeachment articles.
The Senate gave Rehnquist a standing ovation and a golden gavel on a plaque, and Majority Leader Trent Lott thanked him for lending the proceedings "a gentle dignity and an unfailing sense of purpose and sometimes a sense of humor."
"Y'all come back soon, but I hope that's not taken the wrong way and not for an occasion like this one," said Lott, R–Miss.
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Rehnquist, who is used to presiding over the Supreme Court's non-televised proceedings, noted, "I was a stranger to the great majority of you" when he came to the Senate in January. "I underwent the sort of culture shock that naturally occurs when one moves from the very structured (environment) of the Supreme Court to what I shall call, for want of a better phrase, the more freeform environment of the Senate," he said, causing the senators to break into laughter.
He said he was impressed with Senate leaders' ability to agree on procedural rules and by "the quality of the debate in closed session."
"Our work as a court of impeachment is now done," Rehnquist said. "I leave you with the hope that our several paths may cross again, under happier circumstances."
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2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education