Racial Politics and the Clinton-Guinier Episode

In 1993 Bill Clinton nominated Lani Guinier, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, to head the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department. Guinier was experienced in civil rights litigation and politics and was also a family friend. Her nomination was attacked. She was charged with favoring quotas and racial polarization, and Clinton withdrew the nomination before the Senate debate. This story merits reexamining because the tensions that propelled it play such a large role in American politics. It is as much a story about Clinton and the shape of racial politics as about Guinier.

Unsurprisingly, Guinier’s positions were deemed unacceptable by almost all Republican political figures who commented. Somewhat more surprising, and far more important politically, were the vehement critiques of Guinier by center-right and centrist Democrats. The New Republic opposed her nomination in an article by Abigail Thernstrom and an editorial. Their arguments ...