Breyer Candidate For U.S. Attorney General

Harvard Law School Lecturer Stephen G. Breyer may be a candidate for U.S. Attorney General, according to a report in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

Breyer, a federal judge at the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, would not comment when reached at his home yesterday.

Recent speculation on Capitol Hill brought up Breyer's name as a possibility, but George Stephanopoulos, the White House communications director, has not commented, the Journal reported.

President Clinton had been looking for a woman to fill the Cabinet post at the Justice Department, but nominee Zoe Baird, a Connecticut corporate attorney, and near-nominee Kimba Wood, a New York federal judge, pulled themselves out of consideration after admitting to hiring illegal aliens as employees.

"He's not female, but it would be terrific," said Frankfurter Professor of Law Abram Chayes '43. "He knows the law. He knows the political scene in Washington. He works very well with Congress."

Breyer has worked in government before. He was an assistant special prosecutor for the Watergate Special Prosecution Force in 1973, and chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee from 1979 to 1981.

He also "was instrumental in deregulating the airlines" while working with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56, according to Professor of Law Charles R. Nesson '60.

Nesson, who said he has known Breyer since 1962, thought it was "quite likely" the judge would accept an appointment.

"I think the job would be very enticing to him," said Nesson. "He wants to do what he can to make the world a better place."

Nesson described Breyer as "very astute about problems of justice...very good on civil rights and exceedingly conscious about the environment--he bicycles to work."

"He's also very sensitive on gender issues. He's always had a really deep appreciation of women's roles," Nesson said.

"He'd be excellent," said Pound Professor of Law and former Law School Dean James Vorenberg '49, who said he had not heard Breyer was a candidate. Vorenberg, who served as dean from 1981 until 1989, said he knows Breyer well through working with him on the faculty at the Law School.

Breyer was a professor at the Law School from 1970 until 1981 and at the Kennedy School of Government from 1978 to 1981.

This fall, Breyer taught "Administrative Law: The Regulatory Process," and he co-lectures "Government and the Regulation of Industry" with Ramsey Professor of Political Economy Richard J. Zeckhauser '62 this spring

This fall, Breyer taught "Administrative Law: The Regulatory Process," and he co-lectures "Government and the Regulation of Industry" with Ramsey Professor of Political Economy Richard J. Zeckhauser '62 this spring