By Nick Nelson
On the wall of Thomas Griffith?s office in the Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building hangs a slender piece of American history too fresh for all but the most recent textbooks.
A relic from his days as Senate legal counsel, the long, narrow frame contains the final, handwritten tally of Senate votes taken at the end of the only impeachment trial of the 20th century.
Griffith, now general legal counsel for BYU, served from 1995 to 1999 as the Senate?s non-partisan legal counsel, where he advised senators during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
Perhaps it?s a testament to his objectivity in that role that several prominent Democrats now support Griffith ? a Republican ? in his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit.
In February, President George W. Bush renominated Griffith to that court, which is widely considered second in importance only to the U.S. Supreme Court. Griffith had been nominated in May of last year but the Senate, which must confirm such nominations with a majority vote, never had the chance to vote on his nomination.
Sen. Orrin Hatch has been among Griffith?s most vocal Republican supporters. Last year the Utah senator chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approves judicial nominees before the Senate votes whether to confirm them, and tried to push Griffith?s confirmation through before the session?s end.
But opponents to Griffith?s nomination charged that his failure to pay bar dues in Washington D.C. and the fact that he never took the Utah bar exam when he came to work as general counsel for BYU, showed a disregard for the law. Questions about these lapses stalled his nomination and the committee never put it to an up or down vote.
This time, Griffith faces the same questions but now has the support of a strong Republican majority in the Senate and the backing of several influential Democrats.
One ally from the left is Abner Mikva who was chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals after serving as a Democratic congressman. He and Griffith met when Mikva left the bench to serve as White House legal counsel for Clinton during the president?s impeachment.
Mikva said he got to know Griffith well when the two served as advisory board members for the Central and East European Law Initiative of the American Bar Association.
?We?ve traveled together often,? Mikva said in a telephone interview. ?Everything I know about Tom is that he?s the person of the highest integrity.? Griffith also has David Kendall in his corner. Kendall, who is personal counsel to Bill Clinton and his wife Sen. Hillary Clinton, said he and Griffith became well acquainted during the impeachment trial in 1999.
?I think Tom and I are probably somewhat different philosophically. I?m a liberal Democrat in many ways and that thinking carries over judicially,? he said. ?However, I think Tom is fair, smart and hardworking. I think he would be a good judge. I think he has a judicial temperament.?
Griffith also found an unlikely ally in the Washington Post. On Thursday, the newspaper ? hardly known for its support of Republican judicial nominations ? endorsed Griffith?s nomination in a house editorial.
The editorial referred to the lapse in bar dues and lack of Utah law license but ultimately concluded that Griffith is qualified to serve.
?In the context of an otherwise honorable career, the infractions do not seem disqualifying,? the editorial stated. ?As Senate legal counsel during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, Mr. Griffith was widely respected by people in both parties, and those who have worked with him elsewhere regard him as a sober lawyer with an open mind. There is considerable reason to think he would make a fine judge.?
Griffith also has fans closer to home.
H. Reese Hansen, professor and former dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU, was on the recruiting team that brought Griffith to BYU. He has remained a loyal supporter.
?Tom Griffith would have a level of integrity that would match the best of anybody you can think of,? he said. ?He is without blemish on integrity.?
Hansen said the accusations against his recruit are ?without foundation.?
Griffith did not pay his bar dues while working in Washington, D.C. in the years following his service with the Senate. Last year he explained to the Judiciary Committee that he was unaware of the lapse and paid the dues as soon as he learned of it.
In a hearing last week before the same committee, Griffith said the error was his alone.
?I made a mistake,? he said. ?I want to make it clear it was my mistake and no one else?s mistake.?
But Mikva said Griffith?s mistake was understandable.
?Those kinds of things could happen to anybody,? he said. ?They?ve happened to me.?
Opponents have also criticized Griffith for failing to obtain a Utah law license when he came to work as general counsel for BYU. But in a letter to Sen. Hatch?s office last year, five past presidents of the Utah State Bar wrote that it is common practice for a person to serve as general counsel without obtaining a Utah law license if all legal advice is given in association with licensed attorneys.
BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said Griffith?s service at BYU met with this standard.
?His duties include a number of non-legal matters related to university administration, public affairs and governmental relations,? Jenkins said. ?They also include providing legal advice. This advice is given in close association with at least one of the four other attorneys in BYU?s General Counsel office, all of whom are active members of the Utah Bar.?
Hansen said these criticisms are little more than a partisan attempt to sully Griffith?s reputation.
?The attacks on him for those issues are absolutely ridiculous,? he said. ?It?s typical of the political mud wrestling that people engage in who are philosophically different than a candidate.?
Groups such as the National Organization for Women and the National Women?s Law Center have published statements opposing Griffith?s nomination because of a position he took regarding Title IX, the landmark 1972 federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in federally funded educational programs. As a member of the President?s Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, a group formed in 2002 to examine and recommend changes to Title IX, Griffith recommended the abolishment of numeric formulas as a means of proving compliance with Title IX, saying the formulas were ?fundamentally unfair.?
But Title IX did not seem to be a concern for the senators at last week?s hearing where none of the committee?s questions dealt with Title IX or Griffith?s opinion of it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to meet in early April to vote whether to approve the nomination at the committee level. If approved, the nomination will go before the entire Senate where it will require a simple majority for confirmation.
Democrats in the Senate used filibusters to block 10 of Bush?s judicial nominees during the last Congress. Filibusters can only be overcome if at least 60 senators vote to end the debate.
Griffith, who also serves as stake president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the BYU 9th Stake, graduated summa cum laude from BYU in 1978. He worked for the Church Education System for several years before earning a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1985. He and his wife, Susan, have six children and live in Provo.
