Home / Full timeline / President Bill Clinton withdraws the controversial nomination of Lani Guinier to head the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.
President Bill Clinton withdraws the controversial nomination of Lani Guinier to head the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.
1993 (Jun 3)
Acknowledging that he did not have enough support in the Senate to win a major confirmation battle, President Bill Clinton withdrew the controversial nomination of Lani Guinier to head the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department. Opposition to the forty-three-year-old law professor had been growing steadily since Clinton announced her nomination in late April. Many people—mainly conservative Republicans—charged that her extensive writings about race and politics were too radical and seemed to support the idea of racial separatism. They dubbed her the "Quota Queen" because of her call for racial quotas in electing and hiring public officials. By late May, the White House had begun to hint that perhaps she should pull out of the running. Guinier refused, however, and insisted that her views deserved a fair hearing in the Senate, not just in the media. As pressure mounted, the president himself announced that he was withdrawing her name from consideration. He explained that he had not closely read her writings before choosing her for the civil rights job. Afterwards, Guinier defended herself by saying that people had misinterpreted her writings. She insisted that she would have never pushed for quotas because of the racial discrimination her father suffered as the only Black student at Harvard College in 1929. Many others condemned Clinton's move, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, civil rights organizations, and women's groups. They agreed with Guinier that she had been unfairly judged.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.