As Support Wanes, 2 Justice Dept. Nominees Withdraw : Government: Payton lacked backing from Congressional Black Caucus. Torres was stymied by a probe of his ex-law firm associates.

Two expected nominees to head the Justice Department’s civil rights and environment divisions, facing uncertainties over Senate confirmation, withdrew from consideration Friday.

Although separate difficulties prompted the two men to pull out, their withdrawals are a substantial embarrassment for the Administration. The two are District of Columbia corporation counsel John Payton, who was in line for the civil rights post, and Gerald Torres, a former environmental law professor who was intended to fill the environmental job.

The Administration has been in office nearly 11 months and has been unable to fill either of the high profile posts.

Payton’s withdrawal is the second for the civil rights job. President Clinton had announced his selection after pulling back the controversial nomination of University of Pennsylvania law professor C. Lani Guinier on June 3, saying that he could not support some of her published views.

Torres’ nomination has been delayed since April 29, when Clinton announced the choice during his first visit to the Justice Department.

The withdrawal of Payton, who is black, stemmed in part from lack of support by the Congressional Black Caucus, which expressed concern about some of his positions and said that he seemed to lack “fire in the belly” for important causes, as one official put it.

In a letter to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, Payton said that he was “sadly” asking that his name be withdrawn. The post offered “an unparalleled opportunity to have an impact on some of the most critical and neglected issues in our society--issues that I have cared about deeply all of my life.”

Payton expressed confidence that Clinton and Reno “will refocus the country on the challenge of equal rights and opportunity for all.”

Torres’ nomination was held up by an active federal investigation of former associates of his at a defunct New York law firm. Torres is not implicated, but he would be unable to comment on the inquiry during a confirmation proceeding, an Administration source said.

In his letter to Reno, Torres said: “Any further delay . . . would only serve to frustrate the Administration’s goals, impede the important contribution that a confirmed assistant attorney general for the environment can make and place an even heavier personal burden on my family.”

Torres, who was named “National Hispanic Law Professor of the Year” in 1991 as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, said that he plans to remain at the department, where he has worked in various capacities, as counsel to Reno. He will serve as an adviser on environmental policy and Native American matters in a post that does not require Senate confirmation.

Lois Schiffer, who has been heading the Environment and Natural Resources division as acting assistant attorney general, now is expected to be nominated by Clinton, an Administration source said. Schiffer served in the division for six years until 1984, then as general counsel of National Public Radio and has been an adjunct professor of environmental law since 1986.

Administration sources said that there are at least two candidates now for the civil rights post but declined to provide names.

Over the last two weeks it became clear that strong support from the civil rights community for Payton “was just not there,” Administration officials said.

As recently as Thursday, at her weekly press briefing, Reno said that she had no “second thoughts” about Payton, praising him as “a fine, dedicated, wonderful lawyer who would make a splendid assistant attorney general for the civil rights division.”