Martha Stewart Obstruction Of Justice Essay

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The basis of American democracy enables people to have a voice in the government while providing equal protection under the law for everyone. Furthermore, the judiciary system is in place to ensure that justice is served appropriately. Unfortunately, conflicts arise when people in positions of power conduct themselves immorally or do not follow the law by lying or mishandling evidence. To protect individuals from harm or persecution in cases such as these, judges, administrators, or elected officials may be charged with obstruction of justice. Obstruction of justice is extremely difficult to detect, but history has proven that anyone, ranging from people as high-profile as Martha Stewart or Bill Clinton to fictional characters such as Huck …show more content…

Initially, Stewart was accused of participating in insider trading and securities fraud, but those accusations soon evolved into obstruction of justice when the government uncovered that she lied to the FBI about her knowledge of a particular trade involving ImClone. Faneuil, Stewart’s stockbroker’s assistant, revealed to Stewart that Sam Waksal, ImClone CEO, was frantically selling his shares in the company. Alarmed, Stewart quickly sold her 4,000 shares. Although the sale may have been unethical, everything was perfectly legal with the exception that Stewart lied about her motives for conducting the trade (Reynolds). Stewart was fully aware that she was interfering with the government’s case against her; therefore, the decision to charge her with obstruction of justice was easily …show more content…

After the news broke of Clinton’s extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky, Clinton was asked to testify about the case. Clinton lied about his affair under oath, and he ultimately paid the consequences. He was impeached on counts of “perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of power”, but he was never removed from office (“President Clinton Impeached”). Clinton was the first president to face impeachment since Andrew Johnson in 1868 and he was the second president ever to face impeachment, so the issue was not taken lightly. The president was ultimately acquitted of his charges, but the Senate’s votes were split on the charge of obstruction of justice. By impeaching the president for obstructing justice, Congress demonstrated that nobody, including the President of the United States, is above the

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