Kennedy Rips Into Meese in Exchange Over Rights Policies

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy today confronted Atty Gen. Edwin Meese III in an angry exchange, saying, “This is the most anti-civil rights Administration I have ever seen.”

Kennedy, in the first Senate Judiciary Committee hearing since Democratic liberals assumed command of the panel from Republican conservatives, told Meese that the Reagan Administration encourages discrimination by its civil rights policies, then led committee liberals in blasting Justice Department policies.

The Massachusetts senator and other Democrats criticized Meese for budget cuts in fighting illegal drugs, infighting among agencies that combat drug trafficking, failure to appoint enough women and minorities to judgeships and for supporting an end to the “Miranda rule” that requires police to read criminal suspects their rights.

But Meese, battling back, said, “I consider myself one of the foremost defenders of civil rights in the United States.”

Meese told Kennedy: “Most of the things you said in your political diatribe are flat wrong.” He said there were “many inaccuracies and misstatements of fact.”

‘Happening on Your Watch’

“The ’88 president race has now begun,” said Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, ranking Republican on the committee.

Kennedy said: “I am not accusing the Reagan Administration of being responsible for the racism in our society. But I am accusing them of creating a climate that encourages discrimination or repudiates opportunity. Howard Beach and Forsyth County (Ga.) are happening on your watch, Mr. Meese. The question is, what do you intend to do about it?”

Kennedy was referring to racial tensions resulting from violence against blacks in the Howard Beach section of New York and to the all-white Georgia county where civil rights marchers have been attacked.

The attorney general took the offensive against those in Congress who have charged that the Administration is actually cutting back in its proposed fiscal 1987 budget and its promises to fight drug abuse.

“If you actually look at the budget, you will find that there is no retreat whatsoever,” he said. “Overall, I think that those critics who have tried to play political games with the numbers are absolutely wrong and that the continuing effort by this Administration is ongoing and expanding.”

Policies Challenged

The hearing was on the Justice Department’s budget authorization, but it covered exchanges on all aspects of department policies.

Over the coming weeks, department officials also will be called upon to defend policies in such major areas as civil rights, First Amendment liberties, corporate mergers and illegal aliens.

The hearings mark the debut of Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), at a time when he is traveling around the country as a potential presidential candidate.

The sessions will probably establish the tone of relations between the committee’s new leadership and the conservative Reagan Administration.