President Clinton has fallen victim to bad law, according to CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law Professor Paul Campos, author of the book "Jurismania: The Madness of American Law."
"Let's make sure that the law is something that makes sense," Campos said, "instead of being this kind of out-of-control machine that is stomping through society causing all kinds of social destruction."
In "Jurismania," Campos asserts that the American legal system has dimensions that "testify to a judicial overkill that borders on obsessive-compulsive disorder." He also believes the public is fed up with so-called "legal experts."
"Naturally, we turn to law as a source of political and moral expertise, and just as naturally become infuriated with lawyers when they reveal themselves as having no more insight into such matters than anyone else," Campos explained.
Campos added that there is an alarming lack of discretion between public officials and the media resulting in an indistinguishable line between private and public actions.
"We've had a breakdown of the customary traditional understandings that you don't ask about certain things, you don't talk about certain things, and you show a certain degree of tact," said Campos. "That tact has been lost on all sides, partially, I think because of the demands of a legal system that everything, essentially, be litigated."
Although Campos is a critic of the system that has subjected Clinton to such investigation, he feels no sympathy for the President.
The President is subject to the same laws that govern all American citizens and the Clinton investigation illustrates the need for "recognition of the limits of reason and a much more modest role for our legal system. There are a lot of problems with the rule of law in this country, but no one man should be above the law," Campos said.
Although Campos notes that public officials often "shade" the truth, agreeing to tell the truth on a particular matter and then lying about it, as in the President's case, crosses a line. By lying under oath the President broke the rules of the game, said Campos.
Campos, 39, received bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he also earned his juris doctor. He joined CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø's School of Law in 1991, where he teaches constitutional law and serves as director of the Byron R. White Center for Constitutional Study.