Bush to Name African American to Deputy Attorney General Post

President Bush intends to appoint Larry D. Thompson, an Atlanta lawyer who is African American, to the high-profile post of deputy attorney general, a move designed in part to counter criticism that Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft is insensitive to race, administration sources said Sunday.

Thompson, a partner in the Atlanta law firm of King & Spalding, is best known in Washington for serving as an advisor and a witness for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his contentious Senate confirmation hearings. Thompson is a political conservative and a native of Missouri, where Ashcroft served as state attorney general, governor and senator.

Thompson’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. “If anyone opposes Thompson, it underscores that the opposition to Ashcroft is not race-based, it is politics-based,” a senior government official said. “If he wasn’t qualified, he wouldn’t be appointed,” a Bush administration official added.

Also, Bush plans to name Washington lawyer Theodore B. Olson, who represented the Bush campaign in its Florida electoral challenge, to the post of solicitor general, the attorney who argues federal cases before the Supreme Court, and Charles A. James as head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division. One of the first major decisions for James, who has represented America Online Inc., will be whether to proceed with the antitrust case against software giant Microsoft Corp. or settle.