
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 4, 1993                   TAG: 9306040243
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CLINTON GIVES IN ON PICK NOMINEE GUINIER'S WRITINGS UNCHECKED

President Clinton withdrew the nomination of Lani Guinier to head the civil rights division of the Justice Department on Thursday night, saying he had belatedly read the nominee's legal writings and had concluded she stood for principles he could not support.

Clinton acted after days of effort by aides failed to persuade Guinier to withdraw on her own. The nominee, with the apparent support of Attorney General Janet Reno, insisted in an angry meeting Thursday night in the White House that she be given a chance to defend her views before the Senate and the nation.

"I cannot fight a battle that I know is divisive, that is an uphill battle, that is distracting to the country if I did not believe in the ground of the battle," Clinton said afterward at a news conference.

Some of Guinier's positions have been distorted by her enemies, Clinton said, and her opponents had engaged in a "vicious series of willful distortions."

But even a fair reading of her views indicated "ideas which I myself cannot embrace," he said.

Clinton noted an article of hers that "seemed to be arguing for principles of proportional representation and minority veto" in legislative bodies - notions that he said were "inconsistent" with his beliefs.

"If President Clinton and Senate Democrats had stood by Lani as President Bush and the Republicans stood by [Supreme Court Justice] Clarence Thomas, she would be confirmed," Jesse Jackson told The Associated Press.

by CNB