Updated: Apr 2 1998 9:21AM

Suit Dismissed: Paula Jones. DANNY JOHNSON/AP

LITTLE ROCK: By throwing out Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit, Judge Susan Webber Wright has tipped the balance against Ken Starr. "This casts a deep dark political shadow over the Monica Lewinsky investigation," says TIME White House correspondent Jay Branegan. The probe can legally proceed, and Starr himself has vowed to fight on. But now that the President has been publicly vindicated, presenting an impeachment case to Congress will become an uphill struggle.

The crux of Wright's decision: Even if Clinton did what Jones claimed -- expose himself in a room at the Excelsior hotel in Arkansas in 1991 -- it does not constitute a breach of her civil rights. "Although the governor's alleged conduct, if true, may certainly be characterized as boorish and offensive," wrote Wright, "even a most charitable reading of the record in this case fails to reveal a basis for a claim of criminal sexual assault." Wright was ruling in response to presidential attorney Bob Bennett's motion for summary judgment. The Rutherford Institute, Jones' legal and financial backers, have said they will appeal. As for Clinton, he heard the news on tour in Africa. His first question: "Is this an April Fools' joke?" It wasn't.

-- Chris Taylor