Clinton Defies GOP, Names Lee Rights Chief

Amid congressional threats of retaliation, President Clinton on Monday installed Bill Lann Lee as the nation’s chief enforcer of civil rights laws and vowed to keep pressing for the formal Senate confirmation vote that the Los Angeles attorney so far has been denied.

“I can think of no one whose life story and impeccable credentials make him more suited to enforcing these laws than Bill Lann Lee,” Clinton said during an Oval Office ceremony. “Over a lifetime he has worked tirelessly to end the discrimination that keeps us from reaching our greatest potential as a people.”

Clinton designated Lee as “acting” assistant attorney general for civil rights, a move designed to keep the door open for an official confirmation next year. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee--vehemently opposed to Lee’s strong advocacy of affirmative action--were prepared to kill the nomination last month when Democrats blocked a vote, and on Monday they did not sound eager to revisit the matter.

As acting chief of the civil rights division, Lee can serve until the end of Clinton’s term without being confirmed by the Senate. Some White House officials believe the “acting” designation will provoke less congressional antagonism than the recess appointment sought by some Lee advocates.

Even so, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the judiciary panel, called the appointment “a mistake which will undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the [civil rights] division,” and added: “I foresee no further committee action on the nomination in the coming year.”

Clinton said he fully endorses Lee’s approach to affirmative action, a program that has become a political battleground in Washington as well as in the states. “His views on affirmative action are my views on affirmative action,” Clinton declared.

The president said he and Lee advocate a policy in which there are “no quotas, no discrimination, no position or benefit for any unqualified person--but mend, don’t end, affirmative action, so that all Americans can have a fair chance at living the American dream.”

Lee’s critics say the civil rights attorney has interpreted recent Supreme Court decisions that severely limited affirmative action in a manner that would run contrary to the high court’s intent; Clinton has retorted that Lee will uphold all U.S. laws in his position.

Lee, 48, the son of Chinese immigrants and a longtime civil rights attorney, stood next to Clinton, smiling at times as the president spoke. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, Vice President Al Gore, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and other supporters were in attendance.

In his own brief remarks, Lee said America continues to travel “a long, hard road” to equal justice, and he described civil rights laws as “standposts that rise above political party and endure as lasting, bipartisan achievements.”

“Discrimination because of race, religion, ethnicity, disability, age or gender should never be allowed to stifle the potential of any citizen,” Lee said.

Later Monday, Lee participated in a private swearing-in ceremony attended by his wife, Carolyn M. Yee. In addition to his position as acting assistant attorney general, Lee was designated counselor to the attorney general for civil rights. The latter title would allow Lee to continue working in Washington if he is rejected in a Senate confirmation vote.

The Republican reaction to Clinton’s end-run around the Judiciary Committee was negative yet measured, while casting doubt on whether Lee will get a future confirmation hearing.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said in a statement: “I want to make it clear I do not believe that Bill Lann Lee should be assistant attorney general even in an acting capacity because of his positions advocating racial preferences and timetables.”

Lott implied that Lee’s civil rights division will be in for exceptionally close scrutiny under congressional oversight powers, a reality that could limit his ability to take steps the Senate opposes. “Senators will very carefully watch the actions of the Justice Department regarding racial quotas, preferences and timetables to ensure that the department complies with all laws and federal court decisions,” Lott said.

Even Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Lee’s lone Republican supporter on the Judiciary Committee, warned Clinton against installing Lee in the job. In a letter, he predicted such a move might push other nominees into “limbo” and cause the Senate to withhold funding “for some of your administration’s special initiatives.”

Monday’s White House announcement came as the latest development in a simmering dispute over Lee, who serves as western regional counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. For some Republicans, the controversy represents almost a referendum on affirmative action.

Following his virtual rejection by the Judiciary Committee, Lee’s many supporters pushed Clinton to answer back by giving him a recess appointment. But Republicans would have viewed such an appointment as far more provocative than giving him “acting” status, which seems to carry less weight. Ironically, a recess appointment would have expired late next year, but the acting role that Clinton gave Lee could run through 2000.

“While he will have the full authority and support to carry out the duties of [the job], I still look forward to striking the word ‘acting’ from his title,” said Clinton, who pledged to resubmit the nomination “early next year, in a timely fashion” and push for a formal confirmation vote.

Lee’s supporters were ebullient, congratulating Clinton for standing by a nominee who enjoys widespread support within the civil rights community.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson called the civil rights division “the moral safeguard of our democracy,” and said Clinton did the morally correct thing. “We have a compelling national interest to have leadership over the division of civil rights,” Jackson said in an interview.

In a statement, Kennedy called Clinton’s action “a solid victory for the rights of all Americans, and especially for women, for minorities, for workers, for immigrants and for all those who continue to face blatant discrimination in our society.”

But opponents vowed to watch Lee closely and possibly limit his division’s ability to undertake major initiatives.

“Lee will have the job, but without the moral authority that comes with confirmation,” said Clint Bolick, litigation director for the Institute for Justice, a conservative group in Washington. “We’ll be watching his actions very, very closely.”

Hatch said he, too, intends to closely monitor Lee’s conduct, and predicted: “There is no question that Mr. Lee will be among the most congressionally scrutinized bureaucrats in history.”

Times staff writers Edwin Chen and Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to this story.