Hatch Says Nomination of Lee Is Dead

The White House on Sunday vowed to continue fighting for President Clinton’s pick for the top U.S. civil rights job, although the head of the Senate panel that must decide on the nomination declared it dead.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee--who last week announced his opposition to the nomination of Los Angeles attorney Bill Lann Lee as the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights--said Sunday that Lee lacked the necessary votes for confirmation.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s dead,” the Utah Republican said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.”

“I don’t know how people are going to vote on Thursday, but I presume that nobody is going to change their vote at that particular point. And from my count, I think the nomination is dead,” Hatch said.

The Judiciary Committee was tentatively scheduled to meet Thursday and vote on the Lee nomination.

White House spokesman Barry Toiv responded to Hatch’s assessment that Lee’s nomination was dead by saying: “We don’t think it is. We’re going to keep working to get him confirmed. He’s an outstanding candidate, and Sen. Hatch ought to give him the opportunity he deserves to get confirmed.”

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the top Democrat on the panel, and other Democratic committee members demanded this weekend that Republican leaders schedule a new hearing for Lee.

The Vermont Democrat said Lee deserved a chance to answer charges by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) that his tactics in resolving a discrimination lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles Police Department by female officers were “underhanded.”

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Gingrich, among other things, accused Lee of attempting to force through a consent decree mandating racial preferences in the department. Assistant City Atty. Robert Cramer has denied the charge.

“This is a matter of basic fairness to a man who has been much maligned,” Leahy said. He charged that Republican leaders wanted Lee’s head as a “trophy.”

Lee, 48, would be the first Asian American to hold the post. He is director of the Western regional office of the Legal Defense and Education Fund of the NAACP and is considered one of the nation’s top civil rights lawyers. He was nominated to succeed Deval Patrick.