The Nation - News from July 28, 1989

The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed until next week a vote on whether William Lucas should head the Justice Department’s civil rights agency so that a key member, Sen. Howell Heflin (D-Ala.), could study new material. Heflin, considered a pivotal vote, did not say what the new material was, and committee workers involved with the nomination declined to comment. Republican members tried to force a vote so that the nomination could be brought to the full Senate before Congress’ Aug. 5 recess but Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the committee, rescheduled a vote for Tuesday. Lucas, 61, has met opposition from some civil rights groups and liberal lawmakers who question his qualifications and his knowledge of recent Supreme Court decisions they consider anti-civil rights.