Jewish Groups Raise Initial Concern About Justice Department Appointment

Jewish organizations have raised initial concerns about the nomination of Lani Guinier to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

Guinier, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has espoused controversial positions in her academic writings on such civil rights issues as use of the Voting Rights Act.

She has argued for a form of proportional representation, a concept suggesting that minority groups are entitled to political representation in numbers equal to their proportion in the population.

The Jewish community traditionally has opposed this concept, in part because it could be used to limit the representation of Jews.

“The Jewish community would have, or does have, serious questions about any plan that suggests that any group is entitled to representation in numbers equal to their proportion of the population,” said Jerome Chanes, co-director for domestic concerns of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council.

Representatives of Jewish groups, including NJCRAC, are hoping to meet with Guinier to discuss their concerns, and until such a meeting takes place, most are reserving judgment about whether to oppose her confirmation.

Chanes said that NJCRAC, an umbrella group representing more than 100 national and community relations agencies has planned a consultation next Tuesday to explore the Jewish community’s stance on the proportional representation issue.

“We would look forward to exploring these questions with Lani Guinier,” he added.

Steven Freeman, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s legal affairs department, said Wednesday that his organization had some “concerns” about Guinier’s position on the Voting Rights Act and on proportional representation, but that ADL had not yet taken a position on her nomination.

He declined to offer further specifics about the group’s concerns, saying that it would not be fair to the nominee. But he also said ADL was in agreement with Guinier that there should be some changes in the way the Voting Rights Act has been implemented.

‘AN ALLY ON MANY ISSUES’

Freeman said he “would like to hear her say where she is now on some of these issues” and what she would do as assistant attorney general.

“We recognize,” he said, “that this is a professor writing in academic journals and this might not” represent what she would do in her job.

The American Jewish Congress also expressed concern. In a statement released to The New York Times, but apparently not to other media organizations, the group said Guinier’s advocacy of certain positions relating to the Voting Rights Act and proportional representation “raises substantial questions about how she would approach the obligations of the office to which she has been nominated.”

The Times said the AJCongress statement also called for close questioning of Guinier by the Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearings. If AJCongress was not satisfied with her views, the story said, it would not support her confirmation.

Lois Waldman, co-director of the AJCongress legal department, said Wednesday that her organization stood by the statement in the Times but would withhold further comment until it had a chance to meet with Guinier. She said she was “not at liberty” to elaborate further about the group’s concerns.

Richard Foltin, legislative director and counsel of the American Jewish Committee, said Wednesday that his agency had not taken a position on Guinier’s nomination.

“It is our understanding that she would like to meet with members of the Jewish community, and we would look forward to it,” he said.

Foltin pointed out that the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, where Guinier used to work, “has been an ally on many issues” and that AJCommittee has talked to Guinier on a variety of occasions in the past.

Guinier, a graduate of Yale Law School, has worked on voting rights issues for many years. She first worked in the Justice Department’s civil rights division in the late 1970s, where she helped reorganize the voting rights section.

From 1981-1988, she served as assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. A Justice Department statement said that in that position, she “played an important role as an outside adviser to Congress in its consideration of the Voting Rights Act amendments of 1982.”