GRADUATION: Law prof gets Clinton's nod for Justice post

President Clinton has nominated Law School Professor Lani Guinier to the position of assistant attorney general for civil rights. Law School administrators said they are enthusiastic about Guinier's nomination and expect her to be an effective law enforcement official. Gary Clinton, assistant dean for student affairs at the Law School, praised Guinier, saying that while the faculty and students will miss Guinier, "everybody. . . is terrifically excited" about her nomination. "We're sad to see her go because she's such a great teacher," Clinton added. "She's a great role model." Guinier, who has known the Clintons since she attended Yale Law School with them, worked for the the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division during the Carter administration. She spent several years at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where she argued and won a case which helped define the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act. Guinier's nomination has elicited some criticism from conservative opponents of the Voting Rights Act amendments. A May 3 Wall Street Journal editorial criticized Guinier's positions on minority voting rights, primarily because of her past involvement with voting redistricting. In the past years, Guinier has been an active proponent of the Voting Rights Act which she will administer pending her confirmation. In 1982, while with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Guinier litigated the Gingles v. Thornburgh case in front of the Supreme Court, stating that most of North Carolina's voting district layout violated federal law by reducing black voting power. Guinier won the case, bringing about the amendments which allows minorities to challenge voting redistricting plans that might weaken their voting power. In 1983, Guinier also challenged the state of Arkansas and came to a agreement with then-Gov. Clinton that would ease election laws so that voters are not automatically purged from the registration rolls if they failed to vote. Carl Stern, director of the office of public affairs for the Justice Department, defended Guinier saying that those who oppose Guinier's views "certainly did not assail her character or her fitness to serve." The Journal labeled Guinier's positions more activist than judiciary and expressed fear that Guinier will represent "a Clintonite quest to ration America's top posts by circumstance of birth." Mark Pelavin, director of the Washington office of the American Jewish Congress, said that the AJC has expressed some concern with Guinier's "broader view of representing" because attempts at redistricting may lessen the impact of the Jewish vote. Pelavin said that the AJC is "in the midst of the process of reviewing her writings," and is looking forward to meeting with her to voice some of their concerns. Clinton said that the opposition is no surprise but that it constitutes a definite viewpoint and is not a criticism of Guinier's own credentials. "There's going to be a right-wing reaction to kinds of people the President is appointing," Clinton said. "He is trying to appoint people who can reverse the trend of the conservative government . . . of 12 years." Guinier declined to comment last week.