Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, countered the White House on Friday for naming a civil rights enforcement official he does not like. Hatch said the man, Bill Lann Lee, probably should be limited to four months in office.
Hatch asked Atty. Gen. Janet Reno in a letter how long Lee would serve in his “acting capacity,” to which President Clinton appointed him on Monday.
The senator argued that without some compelling reason so far indiscernible to him, Lee ought to be limited to 120 days in office. This, of course, is not the position of Clinton, who vowed as he appointed Lee that he would submit his name to the Senate next year in hopes of winning confirmation and removing “acting” from Lee’s title.
The president wants to place Lee in charge of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, which would require Senate confirmation. The proposed appointment has been opposed by Senate Republicans suspicious of Lee’s positions on remedying the effects of racial discrimination.
When the president, with Reno at his side, named Lee the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, he acted under the general statutory authority enjoyed by the Justice Department to authorize its officers and employees to do certain things.
The senator, in his letter Friday, zeroed in on the Vacancies Act, which specifies how certain positions can be filled on an interim basis. Hatch said the appointment of Lee “squarely falls within the act’s parameters.”
The difference between statutory authority and authority that derives from the Vacancies Act might seem subtle (or almost unfathomable, to a non-lawyer), and it was not altogether clear on Friday night how much overlap there was, if any.
What was clear was that Hatch cited the Vacancies Act because of its 120-day provision.
In Hatch’s interpretation, the Vacancies Act exists precisely to prevent an administration from filling an office that would normally be subject to confirmation by the Senate. The senator spelled out certain specific, convoluted circumstances under which the 120-day service limit might not apply, but he was sure that Lee’s appointment did not fit them.
Hatch asked Reno to tell him, in writing, if she believed Lee was not subject to the Vacancies Act’s 120-day limit, and if so, why.
Myron Marlin, a Justice Department spokesman, said Friday night that Reno would have no comment until she studied Hatch’s letter.
An aide to the Judiciary Committee who asked not to be named said Hatch’s letter was meant to gather information and did not represent a change of position for the senator.
