Clinton Bypasses Congress to Install Civil Rights Chief

President Clinton, stymied for three years in his effort to install former Los Angeles attorney Bill Lann Lee as the nation’s top civil rights officer, used a tried-and-true backdoor method Thursday to appoint Lee to the top Justice Department post.

Clinton waited until Congress was not in session and used what is known as a recess appointment to make Lee the assistant attorney general for civil rights, bypassing the normal confirmation process in the Senate.

Lee has served in that post in an acting capacity since December 1997. Clinton has submitted Lee’s nomination to the Senate three times but has been unable to win confirmation because Republicans have objected to what they characterized as Lee’s left-wing positions in support of affirmative action and other issues.

Lee’s appointment was included in a batch of 13 recess appointments made Thursday by Clinton. But it clearly stood out, triggering immediate protests from Republicans who saw it as a jab, timed to coincide with the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Lee’s nomination was stalled, acknowledged that Clinton was “well within his legal rights” in making the appointment, but he predicted that it will harm relations with GOP leaders.

“The timing of this decision serves as further evidence of what we have come to know is true: The Clinton-Gore White House is intent on dividing our people rather than uniting us for the common good,” Hatch said.

Roger Clegg, general counsel at the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank that has long opposed Lee’s nomination, said the recess appointment is “sleazy” because it circumvents the traditional confirmation process. “It’s a slap in the face to the Constitution and to the Senate as an institution,” he said in an interview.

White House officials were unapologetic, using the appointment to attack Republican claims of diversity and racial harmony in Philadelphia.

“It’s one thing to put on a show of diversity. It’s another thing to support vigorous civil rights enforcement, and that’s what we’re doing,” White House spokesman Elliot Diringer said.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called Lee “superbly qualified” and lit into Republicans for blocking his nomination.

“The kinder, gentler Republican mood is either a myth, or maybe that memo never made it to the Republican Senate. The way they have treated Bill Lann Lee has been petty and steeped in partisan vinegar. It has been a direct insult to him and to all who care about civil rights enforcement,” Leahy said.

As acting head of civil rights, Lee has led an aggressive enforcement effort by federal authorities in such areas as fair housing, voting rights, employment discrimination and other civil rights matters.

Lee has played a central role in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation of allegations of corruption at the Los Angeles Police Department. Earlier this year, he met with city officials to encourage a settlement to force needed reforms. Those talks are ongoing.

Lee, 51, previously served as head of the western region of the Legal Defense and Educational Fund, part of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, from 1989 to 1997, earning a strong but sometimes controversial reputation as a staunch defender of civil rights.

Lee declined to be interviewed about the appointment. But Atty. Gen. Janet Reno praised the move, saying that throughout his career Lee “has worked to advance civil rights through both enforcement and conciliation. . . . Bill excels at bringing people together, even on the most contentious issues.”

Lee’s full-time appointment to the job, which removes the “acting” designation from his title, means a slight expansion of his powers and responsibilities in the Justice Department hierarchy. But its effect is seen as more powerful in its symbolism.

White House officials said it is important to ensure continuing authority for Lee and the other 12 recess appointees for the remainder of the administration, even at the risk of antagonizing Senate Republicans. In the past, Republicans have threatened to stall other pending nominations if Clinton resorted to recess appointments.

Such threats “are a concern,” Diringer said. “We have nearly 200 nominees pending and we’d like to see them confirmed. But we’ve waited as long as we can on these and it’s time to move on them. . . . As far as any potential retaliation, that’s up to the Senate leadership.”

Despite the complaints of Republicans, Clinton has no patent on recess appointments.

During his 7 1/2 years in office, Clinton has made 81 recess appointments, according to White House officials. His Republican predecessor, George Bush, made 78 recess appointments in four years, while Democrat Jimmy Carter made 69.

Republican Ronald Reagan, who served eight years in the White House, dwarfed all recent presidents with 239 such appointments.