I. Introduction by Marian Wright Edelman and video.
II. One-minute opening statements.
III. "Lightening" round--responses of "30 seconds or less than a minute" to question on the war.
IV. First round of questions and follow ups from the panelists.
V. Second round of questions and follow ups from the panelists.
VI. "Lightening" round--question on affirmative action.
VII. One-minute closing statements.

Transcript (VI)
FROM THE CDF TRANSCRIPT

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the time that we have left, we have one final question, one final lightning round, very quick answers from each one of you, before we listen to your closing statement. And this is the question. If the United States Supreme Court overturns Bakke, the Bakke case, and rejects the University of Michigan's affirmative action program, I assume you would all oppose that. But my question is what, as president, if you're elected president next year, what could you or would you do to undo such a decision?

Let's begin with Senator Braun.

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: You know, I think that the conversation about reparations in this country could lead us in the direction of a conversation that would reconcile us on the issue of race, which remains America's original sin. It has divided us for far too long, and I think if we follow the model of what they did in South Africa, with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, talking about these issues, being honest about these issues, recognizing that our past as Americans is a shared past, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But, the question is, how can we go forward as one country, how can we go forward in a way that gets us beyond race, and sex, and all the "isms" that divide us, and taps the talent and the capacity that we have in the whole community? That is the direction that I believe we have to head. The University of Michigan was trying to do that, to create diversity, to give opportunities in ways that did not entail quotas, and it was the height of cynicism that this administration would call it that on Dr. King's birthday in intervening in the Michigan case.

(Applause)

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: But we do have to have an honest discussion about race in this country, and we ought to do it in away, not to have a shouting match and argue with each other, but rather to say, these are the things that we share as Americans, how can we build on this so that we can grow together, so that the next generation of Americans can look back and say, "Oh, did they have those problems in those days?" That's the direction I'd like to point the country.
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: All right. I'm going to move to the other end, and we'll go back and forth. Reverend Sharpton, if the court were to rule that way, what could you do as president?

REVEREND AL SHARPTON: One, you could direct your cabinet to run agencies in line with trying to repair the damages done, and really set goals of diversity. Second, I would by executive order use as much of my presidential power to try to enact programs, and I would welcome someone to then bring me to court so we could reargue this case, and if we had to argue it over and over again, we'd argue the case, because if we had given up with Plessey vs. Ferguson, we'd have never got to Brown vs. Board of Education.

(Applause)

REVEREND AL SHARPTON: Even if for some reason the court rules one way, and goes against the University of Michigan, if I'm president the justices can prepare for a rematch, because we must fight to protect diversity in America and equal opportunity for all Americans. And that's why as president I would welcome having to go back to court if that becomes an issue.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor Dean?

FORMER GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN: There are many policy differences I have with the president, but the one that I thought in which the president behaved most despicably was his use of the word quota five or six times on the evening news, because the University of Michigan does not now have quotas, it never has had quotas, and affirmative action is absolutely essential in this country, which is the most diverse country on the face of the Earth. Now, Democrats need to talk about race, and especially White Democrats need to talk about race, because Republicans always talk about it at election time. They just send folks to the polls and say, "If you haven't paid your rent, you'd better not go in there," or they make calls at 8:00 at night, three days before the election. What we need to say, particularly in the South, to White folks is, "Your kids don't have health insurance either, and we can help you." There are 75,000 kids in Georgia with no health insurance, most of them are White. Those folks need to be voting Democratic, because they've been voting Republican all these years. The Republicans haven't done anything for them, and they aren't going to do anything in the future. So what I want-I agree with Ambassador Moseley Braun, the dialogue about race in this country has to start with White folks, because believe me, Black folks know all about it, and they've known about it for 400 years.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Lieberman?

SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN: Judy, if the Supreme Court does what it should not do and overrules Bakke, as President of the United States I would do everything I could in my power to introduce and pass legislation that would make it legal and constitutional once again for America's colleges and universities to have affirmative action programs. That's the American way. Remember what this country is about, founded not so much on a set of borders, but a set of ideals. The Declaration of Independence says that every one of us has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as an endowment of our creator. Even then at the beginning, people of color were not even counted equally with White people. The history of racism is the most palpable indictment of those ideals, and we still struggle today to make it equal, to make it real.

I have a recollection tonight of 40 years ago in the fall of 1963. I was a student at Yale, and I was asked to come to dinner at the home of our chaplain, William Sloan Coffman. There were two other people there, Allard Lowenstein and Marian Wright. They challenged me to lead a group of Yale students to Mississippi to fight for the right of African Americans to vote. I did that, and I'm so proud I did. And I'm going to keep fighting to realize the dream of equality .
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Edwards, what would you do to undo such a decision?

SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS: Well, I grew up in the South with the civil rights movement. I watched people lose their lives in the cause for civil rights. We have enormous work to do in this country in the cause of civil rights. We are not finished. African Americans make about half of what White Americans make today. I would, of course, fight for legislation in the Congress that would give us an opportunity for affirmative action. But, affirmative action is one small piece of trying to address the gross racial inequity that we have in America today. The two great civil rights issues of our time are educational and economic empowerment. I would do two specific things. First, I would make sure that we give teachers a real incentive to relocate-by paying them more and giving scholarships to young people in college to get them to the schools where they need them most. And second, give every young person, including African Americans, an opportunity to go to college by saying, "If you're ready, you're qualified, and you're willing to work 10 hours a week, we'll let you go tuition free to a state university." There is, I feel, a personal responsibility to make sure that African Americans, who today every minute of their lives still suffer the effects of discrimination, have a real opportunity in this country.
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Representative Kucinich.

REPRESENTATIVE DENNIS KUCINICH: Of course, the Justice Department would have to be put in the service of affirmative action and bring up every opportunity at every level to create new cases in the Supreme Court and create a basis for overturning the decision if they went that way. But I think we have to realize that America has failed in this area, because if you go back to the Kerner Report, the Kerner Commission Report from the '60s, it outlined a broad range of areas where America needed to do better, in jobs and education and housing. We need to do so much more to make the promise of America good for everyone, and we have to call all Americans on that. A president has to set a moral tone for the nation. A president has to use his or her moral authority to make sure that there are opportunities for everyone, and challenge America to see that everyone does have an opportunity. And part of the problem of the whole idea of affirmative action is that it's a maximum of people fighting for a minimum of opportunities. We need to make it possible for fully paid college in this country, so everyone who wants to go to college, and that includes higher education, and law school, and medical school. We need everyone to be able to pursue their dream, and that is the kind of affirmative action that will work in America.
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Representative Gephardt.

REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD GEPHARDT: I graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1965. There was only one African American student in my graduating class of 350. His name is Harry Edwards; he's on the D.C. Court of Appeals. Since then, since there's been affirmative action, there have been 30, and 40, and 50 in graduating classes who are African Americans. I just have to stop and think what this one program has meant to these young people, to their parents, to their families, to their communities. They've been out in America, doing good things, being jurists, being lawyers, running businesses, because they were given this opportunity. And the most ironic thing about this is that the president, who is the beneficiary of the oldest preferential legacy-

(Applause)

REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD GEPHARDT: The family legacy, that's how he got into Yale. (Applause)

REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD GEPHARDT: ...should be the one who is questioning affirmative action.
I would do anything in my power as president-executive orders, new legislation, putting the right people on the court-so that we get affirmative action back. Our country will be weaker, our country will be poorer, because we do not have this program.
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Kerry, what would you do to undo such a-

SENATOR JOHN KERRY: Well, Judy, I think that this is the greatest unresolved issue in our country today, and it needs leadership. When Trent Lott-when that occurred in the United States Senate, it reminded us of the great divide that exists, and of the obligation of the president to try to respond appropriately. I think I was the first, and perhaps the only United States Senator who suggested that it was appropriate for Trent Lott to resign. And I think that Jesse Jackson hit the nail on the head when he said, "The test is whether the Republican Party is embarrassed by Trent Lott or ashamed of him." It turned out they were embarrassed, because they gave us Judge Pickering, and then they gave us the Michigan court case. I believe it's an obligation of the president to guarantee every step possible to restore affirmative action if it is struck down.
It is possible that it will be struck down without overturning Bakke, in which case you come back with a program that can't be judged by a quota. But, if it overturns Bakke, then there are a host of things we have to do, beginning with the following. In the 1960s, what Joe was talking about, which we all became involved in, was the great issue of separate and equal, and Justice Thurgood Marshall went to the Supreme Court to declare there was no such thing. Today in America, we have institutionalized something worst, called separate and unequal. And unless we have a president prepared to break down the barriers of race and acknowledge that there's no child in America 2- 1/2 years old who hates anybody, and if we can stop people from teaching hate, by beginning to create an education system, and an early childhood education system, zero through eight, then I think we'll have an opportunity to break those barriers, and that's what we need to do.
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Graham.

SENATOR BOB GRAHAM: Judy, I favor affirmative action, because I think it is a key to achieving a just America, an America that will have the diversity to serve the interests of all the people. One of the most persuasive statements in favor of affirmative action was that issued by leadership of our military, the critical role of this in terms of having an Army, a Navy, a Marine Corps, an Air Force, which represented America, both in its enlisted and officer ranks. I think there are two ironies: one is the one that Congressman Gephardt referred to, that a person who has been the beneficiary of a special type of affirmative action should now be attacking affirmative action for minorities in America. And second, an administration which talks about their belief in decentralization is attacking the University of Michigan. I would think it ought to be the State of Michigan's responsibility to decide how they're going to provide for diversity within their higher education system. In answering the question, what should we do now? I think we've talked about it for the last two hours. We need to see that all children have the opportunity to grow up with education, with a health care system, with a firm family, so that we can look for the day when we will not need affirmative action. That is a long way off.