Reagan Reaffirms Civil Rights Stand News Clipping; Correspondence from Ralston to Guinier and Schnapper

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NC:W YO:i.K, N.Y. 
TIMES 

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SU ~ D A Y -~ 1 403,077 

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jREAGAN REAFFIRMS . 
·_· CIVIL RIGHTS STAND 
Backs Affirmative Action Plan 

but Opposes House Bill on 
Voting Act Extension 

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By PHIL GAILEY 
· S.,...,W to~ NewYorl<TI..-

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17- President 
Reagan said today that he had no objec-

1 tion- tn "",,,., ~,..., " · · · 
plans by labor and management to ex­
pand job opportunities in private indus­
try for members of minority grou~. · 

At the same time, he reaffirmed hls 
opposition to a bill passed by th~ House 
that would allow blacks and Hispanic 
Americans to challenge electoral proce­
dures under the Voting Rights Act with­
out proving discriminatory intent. 

In response to questions at his news 
confet'UieCe, Mr. Reagan said his Ad­
ministration "is dedicated and devoted 
to the principle of ciYi.l rights in ~ite of 
the fact that I believe in returning more 
to our system of federalism." 

On other silbjects, the President made 
thesepoints: · 
~He refused to say whether Richard 

v; Allen, who is on a leave of absence 
from his White House job as national se­
curity advber, will be allowed to re- · 
sume his post if he is cleared by a Jus­
tice Department investigation of his . 
business aHair3. "I can't and won't an­
swer while an L,vestigatioo is in pro­
ces,," Mr. Reagan said. · 
~He said he did not believe that Ray­

mona J . Donovan, the Secretary of 
Labor, shccld "step aside" if a special 
p~torwas appointed by the Justice 
Department to investigate kickback 
charges involving Mr. Donovan's New 

l 
Jersey cocstruction company and Wlion 
official!~. ·· - .. . 

jl · · · · .: QUeStloaed on Weber Case 
· Mr. Reagan dealt With a variety ot 

subjects, ranging from the Polish ~ 
to ecooomic issues, but a question on his 
views on affirmative action lett him in 
the position of having to concede that he 
was not familiar With the Supreme 
Court's 1979 decision in the Weber case. 

In that case, the Court ruled that pri­
vate employers can legally adopt volun-· 
tary atfmnative action plans to elimi­
nate "manifest racial imbalance in jobs 

ll traditionally restricted to whices. The 
.II rulL'lg reversed a lower court decision 

l and rejected the contention of Brian F. 
· i Weber, a white construction worker, 
· ; that the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemi­
! cal Corporation had adopted training 
) programs that discri.mlnated against 
, whites. · -
j Mr. R-;agan was asked if he agreed 
, With William Bradford Reynold.5, head 
i w -·-' "...,~ ... ., -~~;_uuc:u~ s C1Vl1 riL~ts 

I divisoo, that the Wel:--er case had been 
''wrongly decided" by the Supren~ 

: Court and should be challenged when an 
' appropriate case came along. _ 

1be President acknowledged that he 
was not familiar with the High Coort's 
ruling but, after hearing the reporter's 

1 summary of the case, appeared to differ 
1 
with Mr. Reynold's position. . 

Stating his understanding of the issue, 
Mr. Reagan said: "I can't see any fault 
with that. I'm for that." 
· · On the House bill extending the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965, the President reiter­
ated that he supported an extension of 
the law but wanted to retain a req~ 
ment that, in certain cas~. civil suits 
under the law must ~tablish that there 
vnu an intention to discriminate. 

'Ibe HOU3e has passed a less stringent 
standard favored by civil rights groups 
that would require litigants to show only 
dis<:rlminatory results. 

Mr. Reagan called the intent require­
menta "csetul thing" and said a change ~ 
in the law "could lead to the type of , . 
~in which effect ce>Wd be judged if ; : 
there was ~e disproportion in the ~ · 
number of public officials who were ~: 
el~ at any governmental level,'' and ~­
added: "You coold come down to where ,,· 
all of society had to have an actual quota ~ 
system." l 

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Steve Ralston 

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