Panel Has Warm Words for Civil Rights Nominee

Los Angeles lawyer Bill Lann Lee, President Clinton’s choice to be the federal government’s chief civil rights enforcer, received a surprisingly warm reception Wednesday from the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee.

Conservatives had hoped to turn the hearing into a showdown over the Clinton administration’s stand on affirmative action, but the senators instead mostly heard stories of Lee’s personal rise from poverty and his professional dedication as an advocate for the poor and disadvantaged.

Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) and California Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, praised Lee as a “consensus builder [and] a healer,” not an ideologue.

“You might as well enjoy this. There won’t be so many good things said about you again until your funeral,” Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) told Lee.

The personal stories, coupled with an unusual endorsement from Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, appeared to defuse much of the potential controversy over the nomination.

Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) made it clear that he disagrees with Lee over affirmative action and California’s Proposition 209. But he also closed the hearing by saying that he intends to push the nomination toward a vote before the Senate recesses next month.

After the hearing, the committee asked Lee to answer a set of written questions and said that it would schedule its vote on his nomination after he has responded.

If confirmed, Lee would be the first Asian American to head a division at the Justice Department.

Since 1981, the post of assistant attorney general for civil rights has been a lightning rod for controversy.

William Bradford Reynolds, President Reagan’s civil rights chief, was lambasted by liberals for seeking to end school-busing orders. Senate Democrats later blocked his elevation to a higher post.

Democrats also blocked President Bush’s first nominee for the post--Wayne County, Mich., Sheriff William Lucas--on the grounds that he had little background in civil rights law.

In 1993, conservatives returned the favor by attacking President Clinton’s first nominee for the job, law professor C. Lani Guinier, as a “quota queen.” An embarrassed Clinton withdrew her nomination before a hearing could be conducted.

Conservative activist Clint Bolick, who served under Reynolds in the Reagan administration, led the attack on Guinier. Last month, he also attacked Lee’s record as one of “support for racial preferences and forced busing.”

On Wednesday, Bolick remained optimistic, saying: “I think we have a shot at defeating [Lee’s] nomination.”

He noted that Lee still views Proposition 209 as unconstitutional, a position that Hatch and several other GOP senators said they could not accept.

In April, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the voter initiative that bans “preferential treatment” based on race, ethnicity and gender. Lawyers challenging it have appealed to the Supreme Court, which is likely to act on the issue in early November.

Lee said he opposed Proposition 209, but assured senators that he would enforce the law as determined by the high court.

A son of Chinese immigrants, Lee told of his family’s small, cramped laundry in Harlem. While his mother heated starch for shirts, he and his brother sorted piles of dirty clothes, he said.

He also recounted how his father returned from serving in the Army during World War II only to be turned away by landlords and employers because he was Chinese.

“My father is my hero,” said Lee, 48. “But I confess that I found it difficult for a long time to appreciate his unflinching patriotism in the face of daily indignity.”

Lee excelled at Yale University and the Columbia University Law School and became a civil rights lawyer, he said, to become an advocate for the principle that every person deserves “an equal opportunity to work, to learn and to live.”

As a lawyer, most recently for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in Los Angeles, Lee has earned a reputation as a low-key advocate who favors solutions and settlements over courtrooms and confrontation.

In a controversial lawsuit, Lee contended that inner-city residents of Los Angeles were being illegally shortchanged by the public transportation system. The case led to a settlement that was lauded by Riordan.

In a letter endorsing the nomination, the mayor praised Lee’s “practical leadership and expertise.”