[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 52 (Monday, January 1, 2001)]
[Pages 3180-3184]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks on the Recess Appointment of Roger L. Gregory to the United
States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and an Exchange With
Reporters
December 27, 2000
The President. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thirty-nine
years ago the great grandson of a slave became the first African-
American to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit. In 1961, amidst fierce opposition, President John F. Kennedy
appointed Thurgood Marshall as only the second African-American to fill
a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals. In doing so, President Kennedy
not only ensured that the people of the Second Circuit would be served
by an excellent jurist; he also took a big step forward in America's
ongoing efforts for equal opportunity in every aspect of our life,
including our courts.
Judge Marshall went on to become one of our Nation's most
distinguished jurists, highlighted by his 1967 appointment by President
Johnson as the first African-American Justice of the United States
Supreme Court.
President Kennedy's action was in the grand tradition of Presidents
of both parties, dating all the way back to George Washington, who have
used their constitutional authority to bring much needed balance and
excellence to our Nation's courts.
Four of the first five African-Americans to ascend to the appellate
bench were initially appointed in the same fashion that I employ today.
To fill a similar gap in our judicial system, I am honored today to
announce my appointment of Roger Gregory, one of Richmond's most
respected trial lawyers, to fill an emergency vacancy on the United
States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. I will renominate him
when Congress returns in January, and I urge the Senate to confirm him.
I take this extraordinary step for extraordinary reasons. First, the
people of the fourth circuit are not receiving the judicial
representation they deserve. The U.S. Judicial Conference has declared
this seat a judicial emergency. It has been vacant for more than a
decade. In the last 5 years alone, fourth circuit caseloads have
increased more than 15 percent; yet one-third of its judgeships are
vacant. This has left too many citizens waiting in line for justice. It
is a travesty in a nation that prides itself in the fair and expeditious
rule of law.
Second, it is unconscionable that the fourth circuit, with the
largest African-American population of any circuit in our Nation, has
never had an African-American appellate judge. As I said when I first
nominated Roger Gregory, it is long past time to right that wrong.
Justice may be blind, but we all know that diversity in the courts, as
in all aspects of society, sharpens our vision and makes us a stronger
nation.
Time and again, for 5 years now, I have tried and tried to fill
these gaps in justice and equality. And time and again, for 5 years now,
the Senate majority has stood in the way.
Third, and perhaps most important, Roger Gregory is the right man at
the right time to fulfill this historic role. His life is a testament to
the power and promise of the American dream.
The son of factory workers, he's the first in his family to graduate
from high school, let alone college and law school. He graduated summa
cum laude from Virginia State University and went on to earn his law
degree from the University of Michigan Law School.
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He returned to teach at Virginia State, where his mother had once worked
as a dormitory maid.
He is now one of Virginia's leading litigators and one of its most
civic-minded citizens. He's earned high praise from all quarters,
including the American Bar Association, religious leaders, and both of
Virginia's Senators, Republican Senator John Warner and Democratic
Senator Chuck Robb.
I want especially to thank Senator Robb for all he has done to make
this day possible, for his tireless leadership in the Senate on this and
so many other issues. He worked very hard to get back here today, but
the bad weather down in Texas made it impossible. But I do want to thank
him. He convinced me, and when I looked into the record I saw that it
was absolutely true, that Roger Gregory would make an excellent judge
for all the people of the fourth circuit.
In closing, let me say I have not come to this decision lightly. I
have always respected the Senate's role in the appointment process.
Indeed, I have made far fewer recess appointments than President Reagan
did in his 8 years, and I believe that the record on that is perfectly
clear. On the other hand, I am compelled by the facts and history to do
what I can to remedy an injustice that for too long has plagued the
fourth circuit, and that I have tried for too long to remedy in the
established way.
As President, it is my constitutional responsibility to see that
justice for all is not just what we promise; it's what we practice. That
is the principle behind my appointment of this distinguished American
today.
Mr. Gregory, congratulations.
[At this point, Judge Gregory made brief remarks.]
The President. Thank you.
I'll answer your questions--I can't resist injecting just a little
bit of levity here. One of the things you want in a judge is someone who
is well-organized and has a good sense of timing. His children are 18,
12, and 6. [Laughter] I think that ought to be evidence in the hearing
on his appointment. [Laughter]
Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, has the Mideast peace process been set back by the
Palestinian reluctance to accept your proposals for an agreement with
Israel? And do you have any indication of whether Thursday's summit is
going to go forward?
The President. Well, let me say first, this is the first chance I've
had to comment on the substance here, so--the parties are engaged in a
renewed effort to reach an agreement. Based on the months and months of
discussion I've had on these final status issues, we have attempted to
narrow the range of outstanding matters in a way that meets the
essential needs of both sides.
The whole question now is whether they agree to continue the
negotiation on the basis of these ideas. We've got to bring this to a
conclusion if we're going to continue. The issues are extremely
difficult, but they are closer than they have ever been before. And I
hope and pray they will seize this opportunity. And I think that is all
I should say at this time. The less I say, the better.
Q. Is that right--you haven't heard from them? It sounds like you
have not. The Palestinian officials have been saying they cannot accept
your proposals.
The President. Well, we'll see what happens. Prime Minister Barak
has said that he would accept and continue the negotiations if the
Palestinians would, and we'll see what happens. There's a lot of things
going on now, and will be in the next several days, and I think, as I
said, the less I say about them all, the better.
Q. Have you received a response, an actual response from the
Palestinians yet?
The President. I've said all I'm going to say about this today.
Shootings in Wakefield, Massachusetts
Q. Mr. President, what were your first thoughts when you saw the
news of the shootings up in Massachusetts?
The President. Excuse me?
Q. The shootings in Massachusetts--I'm wondering what your first
thoughts were and what you would say to the Nation in this holiday
season with that happening.
The President. Well, I feel what I always feel when tragedy befalls
Americans. And I
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hope that they will remember that this holiday season--interestingly
enough in this season is not only the Christian season of Christmas but
the great Jewish and Muslim holy days happen to coincide in the same
week this year. So I hope that we will remember, amidst our celebration,
to pray for all the people involved.
Gregory Appointment
Q. Mr. President, do you think the issue of minority judgeships
should be brought up in the Ashcroft confirmation hearings? And was this
appointment in part aimed at highlighting that issue and could, in fact,
those hearings increase Mr. Gregory's chances of a confirmation?
The President. Well, I think I should answer the second question
clearly. This is unrelated. I have tried for 5 years to put an African-
American on the fourth circuit--for 5 years. Now--and for all the
reasons that I made in my--stated in my remarks, I think it is most
unfortunate that it has not been done, and I just determined to do it.
It's just time to do it.
On the other question, that is something that the Senate will have
to deal with. I'll be--it's not my appointment, and I won't be
President, and I don't think I should say any more about it. The Senate
will do what it thinks is proper there.
Possible Visit to North Korea
Q. The President of South Korea says he thinks it is unlikely you'll
visit North Korea before January 20th. Have you moved any further toward
a decision, whether to send an envoy there to see if North Korea is
ready to reduce its missile program?
The President. We have been in touch with the North Koreans, and I
may have some more to say about that. You know I just have a limited
number of days here before I leave office, and I'm trying to get as much
done as I can, including on that. I may have some more to say in the
next few days about it.
Pharmaceuticals Legislation
Q. Mr. President, the reimportation of drugs law that you signed and
which today you received the letter from Secretary Shalala--some folks
are wondering why you would sign a law that contained such supposed
flaws as were identified by the Secretary. Do you have any plan to
negate, circumvent, or seek to counteract or overturn her ruling?
The President. Well, what she--I said when I signed the law that it
was deeply flawed. She is required by law to make a determination that--
two things--one, that the reimportation would not weaken the safety
standards that we have for Americans and their pharmaceuticals. I think
she could do that. But the second was, she had to make a determination
by law that this would lower prices for American consumers. And the law
was so different from the one we proposed and is so full of loopholes
that she could not say in good conscience that she believed that the
prices for consumers would go down, which is exactly what I warned when
I asked them not to do this.
So what we'd like to see is a law that protects safety that will
lower consumer prices. I do think that people ought to be able to do
this, and--I did before, but I will again, as soon as the Congress comes
back--I'll send them a statement of the things that I believe would meet
the standard of the law. I think that Secretary Shalala did what she
thought the law required her to do, and since she couldn't certify that
American consumers wouldn't get lower prices, she didn't want to hold
out false hope and be involved in something she thought was not
legitimate.
So I hope we can work this out. I do think there was in the last
Congress, and I think there will be in this one, a majority for allowing
Americans to reimport drugs under strict safety standards at lower
prices. But I think we have to do it in a way where we don't promise
something that doesn't materialize. That's all, really, that was at
issue here. And I think--we'll send something up in the way of
clarifying language as soon as they come back next week and see what we
can do.
Incoming Bush Administration
Q. Mr. President, the Bush team has said that they're going through
all of your Executive orders and your administration's regulations with
a fine-tooth comb, and they may undo them. Are you concerned about this,
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and do you think that this recess appointment could go the way some of
your Executive orders might?
The President. Well, they have very different views on the
environment, particularly, and on some other issues. And when they take
office, you have to expect them to do what they think is right. And you
have to expect the people who disagree to disagree. And democracy will
work its will, and then the citizens of the country will make their
judgments.
All I can do is to do what I think is right. And these things that
we've been doing lately are things that we've been working on for years.
For example, the--let me just use one example--the medical privacy
regulations, which I think are profoundly important, we tried to do that
through legislation, and the Congress--to be fair to the Congress--
adopted a bill which said, okay, we've got to get this work done by a
certain date, but if we can't get it done, then the administration can
take action. So when it became obvious that because of all the
conflicting interest groups that it wouldn't be possible for them to do
that, when the date elapsed, passed, we decided that we would take
action, as the Congress had explicitly authorized us to do.
In terms of Secretary Browner's order regarding the trucks and the
fuel, diesel fuel--which I think is a very, very important part of our
clean air efforts, when asthma is the number one health problem among
children in our country today--we've been working on that for years.
That's not some sort of eleventh-hour thing. It's just that we didn't--
this is when we finished, and so we did it.
And I think we should just do what we think is right, and then when
they get in, they'll do what they think is right. That's what democracy
is all about. And they'll either--if they want to undo these things,
then they'll either be able to do it or they won't, as the process plays
itself out. That's the way the system works. And I have no problem with
that. They have to do what they think is right, just like we do.
Presidential Pardons
Q. Mr. President, are you still considering providing pardons for
some of the Whitewater figures?
The President. I expect to do another round of pardons, but I
haven't had any meetings or made any decisions about any others yet. I
just expect to do some. I have done--I haven't seen the final numbers,
but before the last batch at least, I had done fewer than any President
in almost 30 years. And part of that, frankly, is the way the system
works, something I'm not entirely satisfied with. But I think that it is
appropriate for the President to do them where circumstances are
appropriate.
I have always thought that Presidents and Governors, when I was a
Governor, should be quite conservative on commutations--that is, there
needs to be a very specific reason if you reduce someone's sentence or
let them out--but more broadminded about pardons because, in so many
States in America, pardons are necessary to restore people's rights of
citizenship. Particularly if they committed relatively minor offenses,
or if some years have elapsed and they've been good citizens and there's
no reason to believe they won't be good citizens in the future, I think
we ought to give them a chance, having paid the price, to be restored to
full citizenship.
And in that sense, I think that the word is almost misused, because
it's not like you--you can't erase the fact that someone has been
convicted and served his sentence, in the case of those who have. But
there are many people, including more people than I get their
applications to my desk--many people don't have lawyers; they don't even
know to ask for a pardon--but they'd like to vote at election time;
they'd like to be full citizens. And they're out there working hard and
paying taxes, and they have paid the price.
So I would like to be in a position to do that. A lot of the folks--
virtually all of them on the first list I released, 58, I think, were
people that are unknown to most Americans. They're not people with money
or power or influence. And I wish I could do some more of them--I'm
going to try. I'm trying to get it out of the system that exists, that
existed before I got here, and I'm doing the best I can.
Summation Speeches
Q. You gave wrap-up foreign policy speeches in London and in
Nebraska. Do you
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have any other speeches, summation speeches planned for other policy
areas?
The President. I expect I'll do one on domestic policy; I'm trying.
We're looking for a venue, and after the first of the year I'll probably
do at least one more.
Thank you all very much.
Q. What about Gray Davis?
Q. Are you going to take reporters on your next househunting trip,
Mr. President?
The President. [Laughter] I hope I don't have to do any more.
Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 3 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Ehud Barak of
Israel. Reporters referred to outgoing Senator John Ashcroft, the
incoming Bush administration nominee for Attorney General; and Gov. Gray
Davis of California. The transcript released by the Office of the Press
Secretary also included the remarks of Judge Gregory.