Rehnquist Denies That He Harassed Minority Voters

Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist Wednesday denied under oath allegations that he had harassed or intimidated minority voters in Phoenix during the 1960s as the Senate Judiciary Committee summoned 10 witnesses to testify on the resurrected charges.

Under persistent questioning by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Rehnquist’s nomination to be chief justice, the nominee disputed statements disclosed at the hearing by four people who claimed that they witnessed his challenging black or Latino voters in an effort to intimidate them.

The issue of challenging voters first arose at Rehnquist’s 1971 confirmation hearing on his first Supreme Court nomination, although he was not questioned about the charges at the session. But, in a letter to the committee at that time, he denied that he had taken part “in challenging the qualifications of any voters.”

New witnesses, however, have come forward since President Reagan nominated Rehnquist to be chief justice in June.

In agreeing to a request by Sens. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) and Paul Simon (D-Ill.) that the 10 witnesses be called to testify Friday, panel Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) said he had read an FBI report on the allegation and “found absolutely no new information.”

The decision to call the witnesses was made as the American Bar Assn.’s standing committee on the federal judiciary unanimously gave Rehnquist its highest rating of “well qualified,” further brightening his prospects for confirmation, which had already been considered a near certainty.

Gene W. Lafitte, a New Orleans lawyer on the ABA panel, told the Senate committee that the rating “is reserved for those who meet the highest standards of professional competence, judicial temperament and integrity.”

300 People Interviewed

Lafitte said the 14-member committee had talked with more than 300 people about Rehnquist’s nomination, including his fellow justices, federal and state judges nationwide, and law school deans and faculty--as well as Rehnquist himself.

Kennedy, the only member of the Senate committee who has announced that he would vote against Rehnquist, asked the nominee if he believes that all of the witnesses who have made the harassment allegations are wrong.

“I gave you my best recollection,” Rehnquist said. “I would have to say, yes, they are wrong.”

“What is their motivation?” Kennedy asked.

“I really don’t know,” Rehnquist replied.

“Is it a case of mistaken identity?” Kennedy asked.

“I think they’re mistaken,” Rehnquist said. “I can’t offer any further explanation.”

Metzenbaum’s Questions

Metzenbaum pursued the same line of questioning, contending that the issue is whether Rehnquist told the truth in 1971 when he said that he had not personally engaged “in challenging the qualifications of any voters.”

Rehnquist, while denying that he had ever harassed or intimidated voters, refused to extend that denial to taking part in voter challenges from 1953 to 1969, the years he lived in Arizona.

If the question “covers 1953 to 1969, I don’t believe I can categorically say,” Rehnquist said when Metzenbaum asked if he had ever “confronted voters” at the Bethune precinct in Phoenix. “You’re talking about something in 1953--33 years ago,” Rehnquist said.

When Metzenbaum persisted by noting that he was not asking where Rehnquist was on a certain date that long ago, Rehnquist noted that challenging voters is “a perfectly legal thing.”

Explanation Challenged

Metzenbaum challenged Rehnquist’s explanation of a 1952 memo he wrote as a law clerk for Justice Robert H. Jackson that called for reaffirming Plessy v. Ferguson, an 1898 Supreme Court deci1936289646Rehnquist has said the memo was meant to represent Jackson’s tentative views on the crucial racial question.

“It’s not written as if it’s supposed to be someone else’s views,” Metzenbaum said.

“I suppose one could read it either way,” Rehnquist said.

During his clerkship for Jackson, the year before the Supreme Court overturned Plessy and declared public school segregation unconstitutional, Rehnquist said he had not reached “a firm conclusion” on whether the Plessy case should be overruled.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), seeming taken aback by Rehnquist’s comment, said: “This was a question of phenomenal moment for the country. . . . Are you telling me that you don’t recall what your view was?”

“I don’t think I reached a conclusion,” Rehnquist said.

Rehnquist said he believes the Plessy case had been wrongly decided but that it had been law for 60 years and Congress had not acted on the issue.

Rehnquist returns as a witness today, with Thurmond vowing to “go all night” to hear nine panels of 46 witnesses before the voting harassment testimony Friday. Thurmond said the hearings will end Friday afternoon.