Pair Named to Justice Posts Vacated in Protest on Meese

WASHINGTON —  Nearly two months after two top-level Justice Department officials resigned to distance themselves from Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III’s legal difficulties, President Reagan Tuesday nominated replacements for Deputy Atty. Gen. Arnold I. Burns and Assistant Atty. Gen. William F. Weld.

Harold G. Christensen, a veteran Utah lawyer, has been named to replace Burns in the department’s No. 2 post. Edward S. G. Dennis Jr., the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, has been named to head the criminal division, succeeding Weld.

Their nominations end several weeks of difficult efforts to seek candidates who were qualified and willing to take the high-ranking jobs. Several earlier choices either rejected initial approaches or withdrew their names from consideration--with at least one rejecting an offer because he feared being tainted by Meese’s problems, Justice Department sources said.

Meese, talking with reporters in his office, said that he cannot “imagine any reason” why Christensen or Dennis would encounter difficulties in Senate confirmation proceedings.

But Senate Judiciary Committee aides said that the panel probably will take no action on the nominations until an independent counsel issues a report on a yearlong investigation of Meese next month. Meese is being investigated for a number of matters, including his knowledge about a controversial Iraqi pipeline project and his involvement with the scandal-torn Wedtech Corp.

After the report by independent counsel James C. McKay is released, the committee has indicated that it will seek testimony from Burns and Weld, as well as the attorney general himself, as part of its own investigation of why the two top officials quit.

In a meeting last month, sources have said, both officials told Reagan that Meese should resign for the good of the department. Burns reportedly told Reagan that Meese had “lost his moral authority to lead the department,” and Weld is said to have presented the President with “an oral indictment” of the attorney general.

No final decision has been made on whether the Judiciary Committee will delay confirmation hearings for Christensen, Dennis and Francis A. Keating, who has been nominated to the No. 3 post of associate attorney general.

Meese insisted Tuesday that “there is no relationship” between the confirmation proceedings and the Judiciary Committee’s planned hearings on the resignations of Burns and Weld. He said he expects Christensen and Dennis to be serving in an acting capacity by June 1.

The attorney general, seeking to play down efforts to seek his own testimony before the panel, said: “They won’t have me up there, except for (budget) authorization hearings.”

Christensen, 61, who practices civil law, is a senior partner in the 60-lawyer firm of Snow, Christensen & Martineau in Salt Lake City and has served as president of the Utah State Bar. His selection was urged by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who has been a leading Meese defender on the Judiciary Committee.

Although Christensen has no government experience, Meese described him as “a distinguished lawyer (and) a veteran litigator with an excellent reputation in the legal community.”

In addition to serving as second in command at the department, Christensen would supervise such units as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the antitrust, civil, civil rights, tax and land and natural resources divisions, as well as the Office of Legislative Affairs.

Dennis, 43, served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia for five years until 1980, when he came to Washington as chief of the narcotics and dangerous drug section in the department’s criminal division. In 1983, Reagan named him U.S. attorney in Philadelphia.

In that job, he successfully prosecuted Nicodemo Scarfo, reputed Mafia boss in the Philadelphia area, and his office successfully prosecuted more than 30 Philadelphia police officers, including the deputy police commissioner, on extortion and racketeering charges.

Dennis would be the department’s highest ranking black.

Meese praised Dennis as “a tough, aggressive prosecutor with a superb record, especially in the areas of drug trafficking and public corruption cases.”

He added that Dennis’ “leadership abilities are well known, and his broad experience will be a big plus for the criminal division.”