Dems Block Vote On Lee Nomination

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Nov. 13) -- Senate Democrats blocked the Judiciary Committee today from voting to deny Bill Lann Lee confirmation as chief of the Justice Department's civil rights division. Their move leaves Lee's nomination in limbo as Congress prepares to adjourn for the year.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the committee's chairman, said Republicans would recommend Lee's nomination "be sent back to the White House." (352K wav sound)

While Lee's prospects look bleak, some Democrats on the committee said the nomination was not dead and could be revived next year. President Bill Clinton could also appoint Lee on an interim basis once Congress adjourns, although that probably would provoke an angry response from some lawmakers. White House officials said that option was unlikely.

Of the 10 Republicans on the Senate panel, only Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) was prepared to vote for Lee. All eight Democrats were in favor. That meant that had a vote been allowed, it would have been a 9-9 tie which, under the rules, would have meant a loss.

Specter predicted that if the nomination got to the full Senate, it would be approved easily. But Hatch said, "What would happen on the floor of the Senate, nobody knows."

Hatch repeated his criticism of Lee's views on affirmative action.

"We're tired of preferring one group over another," said Hatch. "Mr. Lee has demonstrated that he would be committed not to enforce the law but rather to advancing a civil-rights agenda that federal law neither requires nor permits."

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's ranking Democrat, urged the committee to send the nomination to the full Senate for a vote.

"For such a serious matter, the Senate is not fulfilling its duty if the Senate thinks that it can decide this matter with a handful of people in a committee," Leahy said.

Further committee discussion was cut off by Democrats, who invoked a parliamentary rule to shut down the committee for the day. The panel is not likely to meet again soon, since Congress is preparing to recess for the year today or Friday.

Last week, Lee's nomination appeared doomed as committee Republicans objected to his pro-affirmative action stance. But Leahy lobbied Hatch for more time to give Lee another hearing.

Lee, a civil-rights lawyer, is Western regional counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

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