[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13543-13544]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  PENDING NOMINATION OF BILL LANN LEE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on Wednesday of this week, I was fortunate 
to be present during the ceremony commemorating the presentation of the 
Congressional Gold Medal to Mrs. Rosa Parks. What an inspiring time. I 
heard Mrs. Parks, Reverend Jackson, and the President each take the 
occasion to remind us that the struggle for equality is not over.
  I heard Jesse Norman, with that incomparable voice, sing to us both 
our National Anthem and really the anthem of the civil rights movement. 
Every one of us--black or white, old or young, man or woman, Republican 
or Democrat, were inspired by what we saw and heard. How could you not 
be inspired in the magnificent rotunda of the U.S. Capitol?
  But then I went back to my office and I started asking myself, have 
we listened? I serve as the ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary 
Committee, and the committee still has

[[Page 13544]]

pending before it, waiting, the nomination of another who has dedicated 
his life's work to the rights of others. I asked the Judiciary 
Committee on Thursday, in the spirit of the Congressional Gold Medal to 
Rosa Parks, and in the tradition of Rosa Parks, that the committee 
recognize the quiet dignity and strength of Bill Lann Lee and send his 
nomination to the full Senate so that the U.S. Senate may, at long 
last, vote on that nomination and, I hope, confirm this fine American 
to full rank as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
  Bill Lann Lee is the first Asian American to be nominated to head the 
Civil Rights Division in its 42-year history. He is currently serving 
as Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, as he has for 
almost 18 months. He has done an impressive job in enforcing our 
Nation's civil rights laws. Mr. Lee was originally nominated in July of 
1997, almost exactly 2 years ago. Two years is too long to have to wait 
for a vote by the Senate on this nomination. I hope the Senate will be 
allowed the opportunity to vote on his nomination before the Fourth of 
July recess.
  Six former Assistant Attorneys General for Civil Rights, from the 
Eisenhower administration through the Bush administration, wrote the 
Judiciary Committee in November of 1997 in support of this outstanding 
nominee: Harold Tyler, Burke Marshall, Stephen J. Pollak, J. Stanley 
Pottinger, Drew Days, and John R. Dunne. Nonetheless, the Senate did 
not vote, and Mr. Lee had to be renominated again in January of 1998 
and, again, in March of 1999.
  It is past time to do the right thing, the honorable thing, and 
report this qualified nominee to the Senate so the Senate may fulfill 
its constitutional duty under the advise and consent clause and vote on 
this nomination. In deference to the advise and consent power of the 
Senate, the President has not used his recess appointment power in 
connection with this nomination.
  After consultation with the Senate in late 1997, the President chose 
to renominate Mr. Lee in January 1998. The Attorney General named him 
Acting Assistant Attorney General. When the Senate refused all last 
year to consider the nomination--not to vote him up or down, or not to 
even vote at all--the President sent that nomination to the Senate for 
a third time in a third succeeding year, in 1999. Now, no one can 
fairly contend that the Senate has not been respected. The President 
has gone the extra mile, and Mr. Lee has shown extraordinary patience 
during this extended period of Senate indifference to his nomination.
  Acting Assistant Attorney General Lee is properly serving while his 
nomination remains pending. It is the responsibility of the Senate to 
vote on that nomination. I believe that in a fair and open vote on the 
merits of this nomination on the Senate floor, the Senate will embrace 
the opportunity to confirm this fine person, this dedicated public 
servant. They will confirm him.
  If I am wrong, if the Senate were to disappoint me and all those who 
support this nomination, and if a majority of the Senate were to vote 
against the nomination, and then he could not continue to serve as 
Acting Assistant Attorney General--that is a mechanism Congress 
established by law, but it properly relies on a vote by the U.S. 
Senate.
  Civil rights is about human dignity and opportunity. Bill Lann Lee's 
nomination ought to have the opportunity for an up-or-down vote on the 
Senate floor. Twenty-three months and 3 sessions of Congress is too 
long for this nomination to have to wait. He should no longer be forced 
to ride in the ``back of the nominations bus,'' but be given the fair 
vote he deserves.
  When Bill Lee appeared before our committee way back in 1997, he 
testified candidly about his views, his work and his values. He told us 
why he became a person who has dedicated his life to equal justice for 
all, specially when he talked about the treatment his parents received 
as immigrants. He told us how his parents faced prejudice almost every 
day here in this country. But Mr. Lee told us how, in spite of his 
father's personal treatment, the experience of prejudice he faced, the 
names he was called, and the slurs he had to hear, his father, William 
Lee, remained a fierce American patriot and volunteered to serve in the 
U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II.
  He never lost his belief in America. His father, William Lee, 
inspired his son, Bill, just as Bill Lann Lee now inspires his own 
children and countless others across the land.
  This is what he told us:

       My father is my hero, but I confess that I found it 
     difficult for many years to appreciate his unflinching 
     patriotism in the face of daily indignities. In my youth, I 
     did not understand how he could remain so deeply grateful to 
     a country where he and my mother faced so much intolerance. 
     But I began to appreciate that the vision he had of being an 
     American was a vision so compelling that he could set aside 
     the momentary ugliness. He know that the basic American tenet 
     of equality of opportunity is the bedrock of our society.

  I know that Bill Lann Lee has remained true to all that his father 
taught him and I hope that the ``momentary ugliness'' of people 
opposing his nomination based on an ideological litmus test, and of 
people distorting his achievements and beliefs, and of some succumbing 
to narrow partisanship, will not be his reward for a career of good 
works. Such treatment drives good people from public service and 
distorts the role of the Senate.
  Bill Lee's skills, his experience, the compelling personal journey 
that he and his family have traveled, his commitment to full 
opportunity for all Americans--these qualities appeal to the best in 
us. Let us affirm the best in us. Let us confirm--or at least allow the 
Senate to vote on the confirmation--of this good man. We need Bill 
Lee's proven problem-solving abilities in these difficult times.
  If the Senate is allowed to decide, I believe Bill Lann Lee will be 
confirmed and will move this country forward to a time when 
discrimination will subside and affirmative action is no longer needed; 
a time when each child--girl or boy, black or white, rich or poor, 
urban or rural, regardless of national or ethnic origin and regardless 
of sexual orientation or disability--shall have a fair and equal 
opportunity to live the American dream.
  I have often referred to the Senate as acting at its best when it 
serves as the conscience of the Nation. In my 25 years I have seen it 
do that. Again I speak to the conscience of this body. I call on the 
Judiciary Committee of the Senate to bring this nomination to the 
floor. Let the Senate have an up-or-down vote on Bill Lann Lee without 
obstruction, without further delays, so the Senate may vote.
  If we do, I am convinced that a majority of this body will confirm a 
fine person to lead the Civil Rights Division into the next century. 
Racial discrimination and harmful discrimination in all its forms 
remains one of the most vexing, unsolved problems in all of our 
society. In a country so blessed as ours, so rich, so powerful, so 
wonderful, we still have this cancer of discrimination that shows up 
randomly throughout our society. Let's not perpetuate it here in the 
Senate. Let the Senate move forward from the ceremony commemorating the 
Congressional Gold Medal for Rosa Parks by doing what is right, by 
voting on the nomination of Bill Lann Lee.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________