10 Key Lawmakers Oppose President on Voting Rights (The New York Times)

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10 KEY LAWMAKERS 
OPPOSE PRESIDENT 
ON VOTING RIGHTS 

G.O.P. JOINS LEGAL ACTION 

s·eparate Briefs Filed in High 
Court Over Carolina Case 
- Dole Among Signers 

By PHILIP SHENON 
Special to The New York Times 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30- Several ' 
key members of Congress, including 
Bob Dole, the Senate majortty leader, 
and the Republican National Commit­
tee filed brtefs in the Supreme Court to­
day opposing the Reagan Administra­
tiOI,! in a major voting rights case. 

The brief from the lawmakers said 
Administration had misstated the 

of the Voting Rights Act, which 
facing its first major legal test since 
was strengthened three years ago. 

Republicans and five Democrats 
Mr. Dole in signing the briei. 

In explaining the decision to file the 
brief, Republican officials said legisla­
tive distrtcting that holds down black 
representation hurts Republican 
chances in elections in heavily Demo­
cratic states in the South. They also 
spoke of the need for the Republican 
Party to broaden its appeal to blacks 
by supporting their political goals. 

Carolina Distticting Case 

The case before the Court involves a 
redistrtcting plan by the North Caro­
lina Legislature. A panel of Federal 
judges overruled the plan last year, 
saying it diluted the power of black 
voters. But the Justice Department in­
terven~ in the case, taking the side of 
the North Carolina Legislature against 
the blacks who conten~ed their voting 
power had been diminished by gerry­
mandering. 

The decision by Senator Dole, a Kan­
and the Republican 

tice Department Wa§ seen as-an indica­
tion that resi;stance to the Administra­
tion's civil rights policies, which have 
long been under criticism from the 
Democrats, was spreading among &­

publicans ·as well. 

Democrats Attack _potlcies 
Democrats were more outspoken 

than Republicans in their criticism of 
the Justice Department's position: 

"Why an Administration constantly 
come5 down on the side of opposing the 
nghts of blacks and other minorities to 
have a full share of democracy is be­
yond me," said Senator Howard M. 
Metzenbaum, Democrat of Ohio, who 
signed the brief. "It's an indication 
that they are just out of step with a bi­
partisan group who think that the 
Federal Government ought to be on the 
side of minorities." 

The Republican National Commit­
tee's brief was more limited, arguing 
that the facts of the North Carolina 

were too narrow to warrant re-

Continued on Page 15, Column 1 



~ 

Republicans Oppose Reagan in . Voting Rights Case 
Continued From Page 1 

· view by the Court. 
Senator Dole's opposition to the Ad­

ministration was 'thought particularly 
significant since he had sponsored the 
compromise wording that led to grudg­
ing Administration support of the 
amended Voting Rights Act in 1982. 

This .was not the first time Republi­
can 'members of Congress have for­
mally opposed the Administration in a 
Supreme Court case involving civil 
rights. ·, 

In 19~, Senator Dole and 48 other 
· members of Congress filed a brief op­

posing the Justice Department's read­
ing of the Federal law that prohibits 
sex discrimination by schools andtcol­
leges that receive Federal assistance. 
The Court eventually sided with the Ad­
ministration. 

Congressional officials said today's 
action demonstrated a new level of con­
flict between the Administration's de­
sire to promote its legal philosophy of 
judicial restraint and increased states 
rights and the desire ofptany Republi­
can leaders. to increase the party's 
strength at the local and state level and 
to broaden its appeal to black voters: 

At a news conference, Mr. Dole said 
the Justice Department should not 
have intervened in the North Carolina 
case. He added that the briefs demon­
strated Republican support for mi­
nority groups. 

I've ever been in." . . 
The case before the Court involves a Char)es F~e<;l and Asststant Attorney 

redistricting plan prepared by the General Wllham Bradf~rd _R~yn?lds, 
North Carolina State Legislature, h~d- of the departments ctvil n~ts 
which is controlled by Democrats, in dtVlSIOn, noted that North Caroh?a 
response to the 1980 census. blacks wen~ elected to the state Le~s-1 

. lature desp1te challenges to the redis-
A panel of three Federal judges in tricting plan. 

North Carolina ruled last year that the The law finally passed by Congress 
plan harmed black voters because, asks judges to consider "the totality of 
while it would have been feasible to the circumstances" surrounding al­
draw some districts with sizable black leged voting discriminating, including 
majorities, all but one of the districts whether a district had a recent history 
under question had white majorities. of bias toward blacks and whether past 
Republicans have also argued that election results were challenged. 
under a Democratic majority the redis- The brief signed by Senator Dole and 
tricting plan worked against them. the other lawmakers maintained that 

. the Administration had erred in saying 
The State of North Carolma appealed that the election of black candidates in 

to the Supreme Court. The Court l;lC- North Carolina precluded a finding of a t 
cepted the case ~;ind l;iSked the Justice violation under the act. 
Department for 1ts Vlews. It said that the Justice Departm t' f , en s 

Signers of Document position "could raise an artifical barri-· 
er" to the ' 'legitimate claims of the 

In a brief that infuriated civil rights denial of voting rights." Such a barrier, 
lawyers, the department supported the the brief said, would impose a "signifi- h 
Legislature and argued that the Voting cant impediment" to enforcement of 
Rights Act was designed to asssure the law. 
"access to the electoral process - not A similar brief opposing the Admin­
insure victories for minority candi- istraton's stand is expected to be filed 
dates." by Gov. James G. Martin of North 

The department said that nothing in Carolina, a ~epublican. Tim Pitt~an, 
the act permitted judges to insist on the_Gove~or s press sec~et~ry! satd m 
election district boundaries that guar- an mterv~ew that the redtstnctmg plan 
anteed safe seats for blacks. had harmed Republicans, who are the 

, minority party in North Carolina, as 
In his 4S-page brief, Senator Dole and well as blacks. 

the others legislators said that the Ad­
ministration had misinterpreted the 'A Good Government Issue' 
Voting Act, which Congress rewrote "The Governor's interest here is that 
three years ago to make it easier to there be no discrimination against mi­
prove infringements of the right to 11orities of any kind," Mr. Pittman 

"I think too often we're sort of on the vote. saitl. "It's both a political issue and a 
periphery," he said of his party. · good government issue." 
"We're never really in there when The brief was also signed by Sena- At the request of the Republican 
black Americans need our help, and so tors Charles McC. Mathias Jr., Repub- Party in North Carolina, the Republi­
we thought this was an apP.ropriate lican of Maryland; Charles E. Grass- can National Committee prepared its 
case to join." ley, Republican of Iowa; Edward M. own brief, which called on the Court to 

.Many Republican leaders have long Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts; oppose the Justice Department stand. 
felt that legislative districting like that Dennis DeConcini Democrat of Ari- Terry Eastland, chief spokesman for 
in North Carolina aiscriminates zona; and House judiciary Chairman At~orney General_ Edwin Meese 3d, 
again~t both blacks and Republicans. Peter W. Rodino Jr., Democrat of New satd that the Justice Department had 

Jersey, along with Representatives e~ted challenges to the Administra-
E. Ml;irk Bra~en, chief co~sel to the .Don Edwards, Democrat of California, tmn stand on the case. 

Repul;>hcanN_attonal Commtttee, spo~e Hamilton Fish Jr., Republican of up- "There are differences today just as 
of ~e conflict between t~e. partr s state New York, and F. James Sensen- there were in 1982 over the meaning of 
pol~tt~l needs ~;ill_d the Admrmstra~mn brenner Jr., Republican of Wisconsin. the law, and it's not surprising to me 
pohcy m explammg the_ leg~! act1~n.

1 
. that you would have a filing by people 

• It puts us on dtffere~t stdes, he ~~1d. . The Justice Department brief, on the hill," he said. "It's not a cause 
"It's not the mo~t comfortable pos1tmn stgned by Acting Solicitor General for alarm." 


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