February 12, 1999: President Bill Clinton Is Acquitted

February 12, 1999: President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the U.S. Senate in an Impeachment trial.

There were 4 Articles of Impeachment drawn up by the House's Committee on the Judiciary, and 2 of them passed the full House, with a 2/3rds' majority, of the Senate, 67 out of 100, required to vote "Guilty" in order to remove him from office:

* Perjury before a grand jury: 55 Nay, 45 Yea. All Democrats voted Nay. Republicans voting Nay: Ted Stevens of Alaska, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, John Chafee of Rhode Island, Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, John Warner of Virginia, and Slade Gorton of Washington. 

Specter had been a Democrat until switching parties as a young prosecutor in 1965, and would switch back in 2009. Shelby had been a Democrat until 1994, when the Republicans won the Congressional majority, and he cowardly joined them. Chafee died later in the year, and was succeeded by his son, Lincoln Chafee, who later switched parties. Jeffords switched parties in 2001.

* Obstruction of Justice: 50 Yea, 50 Nay. All Democrats voted Nay. This time, Stevens, Shelby, Thompson, Warner and Gorton voted to convict, while the other Republicans stayed consistent.

The case was based on Clinton's attempt to hide the fact that he had an extramarital relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern. It had nothing to do with using the power of his office to commit election fraud, as was the case with Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 before the full House could vote on Articles of Impeachment; and with Donald Trump, who was impeached in 2019 and acquitted early the next year.

The evidence against Clinton was so ridiculous, the Republicans, who held the majority, could not get a majority, 51 votes, to say that he had done it. Surely, there were some Senators who knew he was innocent, but voted "Guilty" anyway, because, like the leaders of the impeachment movement in the House, they hated him so much.

And yet, with Speaker Newt Gingrich having resigned before the impeachment, once the trial was over, things calmed down considerably. Over the last 2 years of Clinton's Administration, the White House and the Congress worked together much better, got some things done, and kept the good economy going. It can be argued that, by the end of the year, decade, century and millennium, America had never been in better shape. Maybe, it still hasn't.

UPDATE: As of February 12, 2026, of the 50 Republican Senators who voted "Guilty" on at least 1 Article of Impeachment, 3 are still serving in the Senate, 23 years later: Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and 1 who had been elected to the Senate just before the Impeachment vote, and thus voted to both successfully impeach Clinton in the House and unsuccessfully convict him in the Senate: Mike Crapo of Idaho. (And that's pronounced KRAY-poh, not CRAP-o, although confusion would be understandable.)

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February 12, 1999 was a Friday. It was the off-season for both baseball and football. There were 3 games played in the NBA that night, none involving the Knicks or the Nets:

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 98-94 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Allen Iverson, in a losing cause, led all the day's scorer with 46 points.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Dallas Mavericks, 100-94 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.

* And the Utah Jazz beat the Golden State Warriors, 97-81 at the The Arena in Oakland. (The building at the Oakland Coliseum complex is now named simply the Oakland Arena.) Karl Malone scored 35 for the Jazz.

There were 6 NHL games played, and all 3 New York Tri-State Area teams were in action -- but all lost:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Continental Airlines Arena. The now-dormant building at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey is now officially named simply the Meadowlands Arena. Lyle Odelein and Denis Pederson scored in a losing effort for the Meadowlands Marauders.

* The New York Rangers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden. Brian Leetch scored the only goal for the Broadway Blueshirts

* The New York Islanders lost to the Nashville Predators, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. Trevor Linden opened the scoring for the Isles, but the 1st-year expansion side took over the game after that.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Dallas Stars beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-2 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, in the suburbs of Los Angeles.