[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 22 (Monday, June 7, 1993)]
[Pages 1027-1029]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Announcing Withdrawal of the Nomination of Lani Guinier and an 
Exchange With Reporters

 June 3, 1993

    The President. Good evening. It is with deep regret that I am 
announcing tonight the withdrawal of the nomination of Lani Guinier to 
be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
    Earlier this evening I met with Ms. Guinier to talk through the 
issues that prompted my decision. I told her that had I known all along 
the intense controversy this nomination would inspire I would not have 
asked her to undergo the ordeal, and I am sorry that she has suffered as 
much as she has.
    At the time of the nomination I had not read her writings. In 
retrospect, I wish I had. Today, as a matter of fairness to her, I read 
some of them again in good detail. They clearly lend themselves to 
interpretations that do not represent the views that I expressed on 
civil rights during my campaign and views that I hold very dearly, even 
though there is much in them with which I agree. I have to tell you that 
had I read them before I nominated her, I would not have done so.
    Now, I want to make it clear that that is not to say that I agree 
with all the attacks on her. She has been subject to a vicious series of 
willful distortions on many issues, including the quota issue. And that 
has made this decision all the more difficult.
    The Lani Guinier I know is a person of high integrity, great 
intellect, strong character, and a superb civil rights record. That's 
why I nominated her. I agree with civil rights leaders and members of 
the Congressional Black Caucus that she is a wonderful lawyer. And I 
want all of you to know that if this nomination could be fought out on 
her character or her record as a civil rights lawyer, I would stay with 
it to the end, if we didn't get but one or two votes in the Senate.
    It is not the fear of defeat that has prompted this decision. It is 
the certainty that the battle would be carried on a ground that I could 
not defend. The dilemma with which I have struggled basically comes down 
to this: Should we have proceeded with a confirmation battle that would 
give her more ample opportunity to clarify her views but would guarantee 
a bloody and divisive conflict over civil rights based on ideas that I, 
as President, could not defend.
    Because the controversy over her academic writings includes 
mischaracterizations, this battle, unfortunately, has already polarized 
our country. My campaign for the Presidency was based on trying to unite 
Americans on the basis of race, opportunity, and responsibility, the 
idea that we could all work together to reach common solutions. And I 
regret very much the bitterness and the divisiveness which has occurred 
already.

[[Page 1028]]

    I am well aware that this withdrawal will upset many people in this 
country who believe in Lani and had hoped that she might be confirmed. I 
can only pledge to them that I will continue to work, as I have for 
nearly 20 years, for the cause of civil rights and that I want an 
administration second to none in its dedication to civil rights.
    I will be consulting promptly with the Attorney General and with 
other Members of the Senate and House committees and with civil rights 
leaders about a replacement for Lani. I hope to have an announcement in 
the next few days. In the meantime, I want to again say I take full 
responsibility for what has happened here. I want to express my sorrow 
about what has happened to Lani Guinier and to say again I think that 
she is one of the ablest civil rights lawyers I have ever known, and I 
wish this battle could be fought over that rather than ideas that I 
myself cannot embrace.
    Q. Mr. President, Attorney General Reno has been a staunch defender 
of Ms. Guinier. Did she urge you to keep her on, or is she fully on 
board with your decision to abandon this nomination?
    The President. I believe she is. I would urge you to talk to her 
about that.
    Q. Mr. President, could you just give us an idea of what part of her 
writings you really had trouble with?
    The President. Yes, I can give you an idea. In the Michigan Law 
Review there was an article. Lani analyzed the weaknesses of the present 
remedies available under the Voting Rights Act--and many of her analyses 
I agree with--but seemed to be arguing for principles of proportional 
representation in minority veto as general remedies that I think are 
inappropriate as general remedies and antidemocratic, very difficult to 
defend.
    Now, the Supreme Court has obviously changed the law on that, but 
the whole thrust of that kind of argument, it seems to me, is 
inconsistent with the arguments that I tried to make to members of all 
races all during my campaign.
    Q. Mr. President, what part did your friendship, yours and Mrs. 
Clinton's, with Guinier play in your decision to nominate her and 
perhaps in your decision--or your neglect of her record at the time that 
you did nominate her?
    The President. Well, Hillary played no role in this nomination or 
this decision and so deserves no blame or credit for it. But the fact 
that I have known her since law school and had actually seen her in 
action as a civil rights practitioner played a very large role in my 
desire to nominate her. That is, I thought it would be not only 
interesting, but positive to have, for the first time, someone who had 
been a career civil rights lawyer head that division.
    And frankly, I think the fact that I had known her and cared about 
her and admired her probably contributed to the way this thing has been 
handled in a kind of a drawn-out fashion. And it may be the adequacy or 
inadequacy of the briefings I received about this issue is partly based 
on the assumption that I must have known everything she'd written about 
since I knew her as a lawyer. I think that's probably true.
    Q. Mr. President, there's a perception among some of your critics 
among the Black Caucus that your move to the center and your desire to 
have conservative Democratic votes in the Senate for your economic plan, 
and your health plan to come, played a large role in this. And they are 
saying--Craig Washington said, for instance, today, that he was with you 
in the House vote on the economic plan but won't be with you because of 
your decision to, in his view, cut and run on Lani Guinier. What do you 
say to those people and how----
    The President. I would say two things. Number one, this is about my 
center, not about the political center. I will say again, I would gladly 
fight this nomination to the last moment, if nobody wanted to vote her, 
nobody, if it were on the grounds that I could defend. If somebody said, 
``You know, she sued the State of Arkansas, and she sued all these other 
people, and she came out for remedies in her law practice that weren't 
right, and she ran over this group and that group,'' I would say, 
``Fine, let's fight this thing out. You know, I know that. I have 
personal knowledge of that. You are wrong.'' And if everybody in the 
Senate disagreed with me, I would stay with it to the bitter end.

[[Page 1029]]

    The problem is that this battle will be waged based on her academic 
writings. And I cannot fight a battle that I know is divisive, that is 
an uphill battle, that is distracting to the country, if I do not 
believe in the ground of the battle. That is the only problem. This has 
nothing to do with a political center. This has to do with my center.
    Now, let me say about Craig Washington, whatever he does for the 
rest of his life, I'll be grateful to him for what he did and what he 
said in fighting that economic problem through. I know how strongly he 
feels about it. I can tell you, I received--if any--there's pressure 
over the issue. I got more pressure to stay with this than to drop it. 
But in the end, I had to do what I thought was right. Whether I am right 
or wrong, I tell you tonight, I have done what I think is right.
    Q. Mr. President, did she agree with you?
    Q. Did she agree with you?
    Q. Has she withdrawn or are you withdrawing her?
    The President. I am--I think you'd better ask her what she said.
    Q. Well, if she comes--have you withdrawn her name?
    The President. Well, she's in town and we've--I think she'll 
probably have a statement later tonight. I have no idea what she will 
say.
    Q. Did she ask you not to withdraw her name, sir?
    The President. Well, you know what she wanted. She wanted her 
hearing. But she was surprised that I felt the way I did. You know, this 
is the first long, detailed conversation we've had about it. It was a 
very painful thing between two people who have liked and admired each 
other a long time. This was one of the most difficult meetings I've ever 
had in my life. But I did what I thought was right.

Note: The President spoke at 9:05 p.m. in the Briefing Room at the White 
House.