Impeachment Avoided: The Second Term of William Jefferson Clinton

POD: In 1997 Judge Wright rules that Paula Jones' legal team is not "entitled to information regarding any individuals with whom President Clinton had sexual relations or proposed to or sought to have sexual relations and who were, during the relevant time frame, state or federal employees." As a result, Monica Lewinsky never comes up during Clinton's testimony and deposition over the course of the Paula Jones' lawsuit.

How does the rest of Clinton's Presidency go without the impeachment mess? Does his affair with Lewinsky ever get exposed? More generally, how is Clinton viewed differently in such a timeline? Who wins in 2000?

Yes I know there's another thread about the Lewinsky situation being avoided, but that's a year old thread. And besides, I'm not saying Clinton never has an affair with her, just that the affair never comes up in a legal setting so it never becomes the basis for an impeachment drama.
 

Sir Chaos

Banned
Most obvious result: Republicans raise endless shitstorm over said ruling. I mean, something that prevents them from carrying out their vendetta against Clinton? Must be politically motivated! Those damn activist judges...
 
Sanity from a Judge?!?

I'll grant you that the nuisance suits (and Clinton's boneheaded response to them) gave the right-wing noise machine too much influence over his second term. As to what COULD have been, it's sort of murky.
I'd like to have seen the US have universal health care, more positively engage Iran, Russia, Cuba, NOT repeal Glass-Steagall (no banks too big too fail gambling with Fed discount window money), have a more robust space program spurring basic scientific and technical research, high-speed rail systems built and bag Osama Bin Laden for the Kenyan & Tanzanian embassy bombings. No 9/11 would be a good start to the millennium compared to OTL. Whether Clinton Administration's second term team could/would have done all these things without the bimbogates to distract them is fun to speculate, I suppose.
 
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