Meese Names Replacements for 2 Top Aides

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III recommended Tuesday that John C. Shepherd, a former American Bar Assn. president, be nominated as deputy attorney general to succeed Arnold I. Burns, who quit the No. 2 post at the Justice Department because of the legal controversy surrounding Meese.

As expected, Meese announced also that he is recommending that Francis A. Keating II, assistant secretary of the Treasury for enforcement, replace Associate Atty. Gen. Stephen S. Trott in the department’s third-ranking position. Trott has been named a judge on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Turned Down by Ex-Judge

The attorney general turned to Shepherd after his first choice for the position, former U.S. Judge Arlin Adams, said that the press of his private legal practice prevented him from taking the job. Shepherd said that he was approached about the position Monday while Adams was still weighing the offer.

In making the announcements, Meese apparently sought to move swiftly to portray the department as recovered from the blows of last week’s unexpected resignations of Burns, Assistant Atty. Gen. William F. Weld, head of the criminal division, and four of their aides to distance themselves from the controversy surrounding Meese. A replacement for Weld has yet to be named.

However, there were signs that concern over the attorney general and his ability to lead the department has not died on Capitol Hill, although no congressional opposition to Meese’s nominees is apparent.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has made arrangements to take sworn testimony from Burns and Weld in about three weeks, seeking detailed explanations for their abrupt departures, sources said. Senators on the panel, particularly Democrats, are expected to use the hearings to renew pressure on Meese to resign.

In addition, Meese’s hastily announced nominations produced a rare public expression of displeasure from Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the ranking Republican member of the committee, who met with Meese last week to convey deep congressional concern over the Burns and Weld resignations.

“Although Mr. Meese has indicated (that) he notified some members of Congress on these nominations, I was not contacted by the Justice Department before this was announced publicly,” he said in a statement.

Justice Department Ally

Thurmond, former chairman of the judiciary panel and the department’s strongest ally in the Senate, had expected to be consulted on the appointments, a congressional source said.

But the influential senator’s unhappiness with the Meese situation, which he is understood to have expressed to some White House officials, is not expected to hurt the nominees’ prospects of Senate confirmation. “From what I now know about these two fine individuals, I look forward to supporting their confirmation,” he said.

Pressure on Meese from Congress and elsewhere was eased Friday when independent counsel James C. McKay, who has been investigating the attorney general for 11 months, announced that he would not seek an indictment on the basis of evidence developed so far, although he added that the investigation will continue until the end of April.

If no indictment is sought, McKay will issue a detailed report that will focus, among other things, on the assistance Meese extended to his longtime friend and former lawyer, E. Robert Wallach. The San Francisco lawyer has been indicted on federal charges of defrauding the scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp. by accepting money to influence the attorney general.

Burns to Be Subpoenaed

In a meeting last week, Weld is said to have complained that the attorney general had done nothing to prevent Wallach from selling his (Meese’s) office and added that, if he were in charge of the case, he probably would have sought an indictment of Meese. Burns will be subpoenaed to testify fully about the conversations that he and Weld had with Meese when they “shocked” him with their resignations, according to associates.

Also expected to appear before the Senate committee is Solicitor General Charles Fried, although Justice Department sources predicted that he would seek to avoid testifying about a conversation he had with Meese in which he reportedly suggested that Meese should step down to restore order to the department.

However, the sources said that any attempt by Fried to try to extend executive privilege--under which presidential aides can decline to testify about their discussions with a chief executive--to conversations among department officials is likely to be challenged sharply.

Meese said that he expects to fill Weld’s position after returning April 14 from an eight-day, five-country tour in Latin America to bolster anti-cocaine efforts in so-called source and transit countries.

First Choice Withdraws

His first choice for the job, James I. K. Knapp, a veteran prosecutor in the department, withdrew his name for personal reasons. The Associated Press reported that Meese was also turned down by Salvator R. Martoche, an assistant labor secretary and former U.S. attorney in Buffalo, N.Y., “because of the taint factor.” Martoche refused to comment on the report.

Shepherd, 62, a St. Louis lawyer, served as president of the American Bar Assn. in 1984-85 and was chairman of the association’s House of Delegates from 1978 to 1980. He is chairman of the board of overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford, a conservative research institute, and is regarded as a highly skilled litigator.

Meese said that Shepherd “will be a highly distinguished and most welcome addition to the Justice Department family as my second in command.”

At a press conference, Shepherd said that he had no reservations about taking the job in the wake of Burns’ resignation. He said he had not discussed the position with Burns, noting that he had been “pretty busy” with Meese.

“I’m especially pleased to become an official member of this outstanding group of lawyers,” Shepherd said.

When asked if he had any second thoughts about joining the department after the resignations of Burns and Weld, Keating said: “Certainly, the events of last week made me, as a professional, pause. But I have every confidence in the leadership of the department and the attorney general.”

Former FBI Agent

Keating, 44, is a former U.S. attorney in Tulsa, Okla., and an FBI agent. At the Treasury Department, he oversees the Secret Service, the Customs Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He has worked closely with Meese on the enforcement coordinating group of President Reagan’s national drug policy board, which is headed by the attorney general.

He is one of those accompanying Meese on his trip to the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.