Meese Choice, Citing Pressure, Ponders Withdrawal Move

John C. Shepherd, chosen by Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III to fill a key Justice Department vacancy, said Friday he is “giving very serious consideration” to withdrawing because of the “tremendous pressure that this whole ordeal has been on me and my wife.”

Shepherd said he told Meese “about the terrible stress that this has caused me and the complete disruption of our family life . . . . It’s more severe than anybody could have anticipated.”

A St. Louis lawyer and former president of the American Bar Assn., Shepherd said he had not made a final decision about whether to withdraw from consideration to become deputy attorney general, the department’s second-ranking position.

Shepherd’s memberships in an all-white country club and an all-male social club have come under scrutiny since Meese announced earlier this month that Shepherd was his choice to succeed Deputy Atty. Gen. Arnold I. Burns. Assistant Atty. Gen. William F. Weld and Burns resigned last month.