Civil Rights: The Apologist

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Political Goals. Informed observers believe that Leonard has been chosen to carry out some of the promises that Republicans made to Southern politicians during last year's presidential campaign. Speaking for many critics, a former lawyer in Leonard's division says: "He was made to understand that he should enforce civil rights laws, but only in a manner consistent with the Administration's political goals." When 65 lawyers in his division protested the delay in Mississippi desegregation last month, Leonard handled the revolt like a loyal party man. Once a decision is made in the department, he said at a news conference, the lawyers are obliged to carry it out. He fired the leader of the rebels, Gary Greenberg, who had refused to compromise his views while arguing a desegregation suit against an Arkansas school district.

Attorney General John Mitchell gave Leonard the dubious honor of arguing the Mississippi case before the Supreme Court even though the Solicitor General usually speaks for the U.S. It has been no easy job. In a friend of the court brief a respected group called the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law attacked Leonard's assertion that the division lacked "bodies and people" to enforce desegregation throughout the South this year. The committee, which includes former Justice Department Official John Doar (a Republican who headed Leonard's division with distinction under President Kennedy), promised to enlist enough volunteer attorneys, if need be, to finish the job for Leonard.

The Supreme Court may well rule on the Mississippi cases this week, and it is unlikely to show much patience with delays in desegregation; in recent years, it has repeatedly declared that the time for "deliberate speed" is over. Even so, the justices confront a hard choice. They may conclude that a desegregation decision in the middle of a school year would produce widespread disorder in Mississippi—and would risk a collision between the Court and the Nixon Administration.