CLIFFORD GREGORY STEWART TAKES OATH AS EEOC GENERAL COUNSEL

WASHINGTON -- Clifford Gregory Stewart was sworn-in on July 5 as General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by Commission Chairman Gilbert F. Casellas. Mr. Stewart's nomination was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 30. He was named to the post by President Clinton in January 1995.

"Mr. Stewart's arrival has been eagerly anticipated by everyone at the Commission. He assumes a critical leadership role in the agency's enforcement operations and I know he is up to the job" said Chairman Casellas following the swearing-in ceremony. "His expertise in civil rights litigation will be a valuable asset to the Commission's efforts to reinvent itself and strengthen agency law enforcement operations."

As General Counsel, Mr. Stewart will be responsible for conducting all EEOC litigation, as well as presenting the Commission's views as amicus curiae in cases which the Commission is not a party. He will also have discretion to delegate litigation determination authority to EEOC Regional Attorneys in certain cases.

Prior to joining EEOC, Mr. Stewart served in the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety as Director of the Division on Civil Rights, an appointed position he held since 1990. He also served as an Assistant Deputy Public Advocate in the Division of Public Interest Advocacy of the Department of Public Advocate in New Jersey, where he both supervised and conducted complex litigation involving employment, education, and housing issues.

Mr. Stewart has also held numerous teaching positions, including Adjunct Professor of Law and Instructor at the Rutgers School of Law, where he specialized in constitutional and civil rights law, federal procedure, and trial and appellate techniques.

A 1971 graduate of Rutgers College, Mr. Stewart received his master's degree from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1975, and his law degree from the Rutgers School of Law in 1981. He began his career in civil rights at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C., where he was a staff attorney from 1982-1984.

Mr. Stewart has received numerous honors for his outstanding community service, including the New Jersey Conference of NAACP Branches' Community Service Award, the Legal Service of New Jersey's Equal Justice Medal, and the NIA Award for Distinguished Leadership in Education from the New Jersey Association of Black Educators.

An active member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and the American Bar Association, Mr. Stewart is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Mr. Stewart succeeds John Rowe, Director of EEOC's Chicago District Office, who has served as Acting General Counsel for the agency since March 1995.

EEOC enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Equal Pay Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the private sector and state and local governments; prohibitions against discrimination affecting individuals with disabilities in the federal government; and sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991.