Updated: Feb 16 1998 10:47AM

As the countdown begins to Monica Lewinsky's day in court, her attorney William Ginsburg has lashed out at prosecutor Kenneth Starr for allegedly trampling on his client's constitutional rights. While legal attempts to contest the subpoena are unlikely to stop Starr from bringing Lewinsky before his grand jury, Ginsburg's attacks are calculated to fuel the negative publicity the Whitewater prosecutor has drawn for his two days of questioning of Lewinsky's mother. Marcia Lewis - Ginsburg pointedly remarked - still needed medical attention on Sunday after being forced to testify against her daughter last week.

Weeks of spin and counter-spin will be brought to a head once the grand jury hears Lewinsky's testimony, but the trajectory of events beyond that is more difficult to predict. TIME magazine reports that if evidence of perjury is established, Starr will likely hand the matter over to the House Judiciary Committee to consider impeachment proceedings. From there, however, it becomes subject to political considerations, with many Republicans believing they have more to gain by keeping a bruised Bill Clinton in the White House than by launching the presidency of Al Gore.

-- Tony Karon