Hubbell: Resign or Withdraw

Two years ago, Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked the nomination of U.S. District Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in part because he belonged for more than two decades to a country club that refused to admit African-Americans or Jews. The principle that the committee demonstrated was correct then and the panel should stick to that principle now.

The issue of club membership arises anew because of President Clinton’s nominee for the Justice Department’s No. 3 job. Webb Hubbell has belonged to the County Club of Little Rock since 1985. For years this private club did not admit blacks.

Hubbell, like Ryskamp, claims ignorance of any discriminatory policies. At thesame time he says he recruited the Arkansas club’s first black member, an economist who joined in December after Clinton played golf there (the President later apologized).

Hubbell’s good deed is not enough to excuse his membership in what was an all-white club. Tokenism merits no badge of courage today. This is not 1963, when racial divides were the rule: Discrimination cannot be rationalized so easily in 1993.

Senate Republicans, still smarting from past Democratic challenges to their nominees on such issues, are expected to focus on Hubbell’s membership during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. They argue that what’s good for the GOP must also be good for Democrats. They’re right.

Senate Democrats, too, are concerned about the nomination. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is suggesting that Hubbell resign his club membership if he wants the job. The California Democrat is right. If Hubbell wants to be in an Administration committed to civil rights and diversity, he must do no less. Public office often requires personal sacrifices; frankly, this one shouldn’t be all that difficult to make.