WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court disbarred former Arkansas Gov. James Guy Tucker Jr. Monday from practicing law before the justices.
Tucker succeeded former President Bill Clinton as Arkansas governor when Clinton was elected president in 1992. But Tucker was forced to resign after convictions in the Whitewater investigations.
The disbarment was not a surprise. Tucker had been suspended from practice before the high court on March 4 and given 40 days to say why he should not be disbarred.
Tuesday's disbarment was simply a formality. Though he had been admitted to the Supreme Court Bar, Tucker had never argued before the justices.
Clinton was also suspended from the Supreme Court Bar earlier last term. As part of a deal with independent counsel Robert Ray, the president gave up his Arkansas law license for five years in exchange for Ray's dropping any further charges in the Monica Lewinsky matter.
Clinton's subsequent suspension by the Supreme Court Bar was automatic, and he resigned before he could be disbarred.
Tucker lost his right to practice law in Arkansas last fall because of his convictions, but served time under house arrest because of health problems.
He was convicted in 1996 of mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the government -- basically he had overstated his assets in order to secure a federally insured loan -- in an investigation that grew out of, but had nothing to do with, Ray's investigation of Clinton's business dealings.
Clinton was never charged in the Whitewater investigation, despite a $60 million taxpayer-financed investigation.
Tucker had to resign as Arkansas governor following the 1996 convictions, and in 1998 pleaded guilty to a separate charge of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
