Herbert Slatery Submitted An Incorrect Application To Become Attorney General

After he was sworn in as the new attorney general, Herbert Slatery answered questions about a number of issues, including his membership at the Cherokee Country Club.

From a transcript of the press conference:

Q: Tell us what you're going to do with your Cherokee Country Club membership. A: I'm probably going to do nothing about.

Q: You'll continue to be a member?

A: Yeah, I think so.

Q: Can you see where some have raised this being an issue?

A: I don't think it's an issue to be honest with you. I think it was an issue maybe 20 years or so ago. But I've never been in the leadership, so I really can't speak to the club policy. But I do know a lot of the people there, and there's no discrimination among the people I know about.

Q: Are there African-American members?

A: There are members of color, and there have been. I don't know who the membership is now. They've had African-American members, I know. But they've got a number of women members. But I'm sort of divorced from that so I don't know the full membership. Somebody else needs to answer that, really club leaders ought to be doing that.

Q: How long have you been a member?

A: Uh, a long time. Long time.

Q: When did you join?

A: I don't remember, but it's back in the '80s.

From Slatery's application for AG:

42. If you have ever belonged to an organization, association, club, or society which limits its membership to those of any particular race, religion, national origin, or gender, please list the organization and describe the basis of the membership limitation. Do not include organizations formed for a religious purpose, such as a church or synagogue. Please address whether you would withdraw from any such organization if you are selected as Attorney General and Reporter. Answer: Not applicable

on Wednesday:

The club's membership rules became the subject of intense scrutiny in 1989, when the University of Tennessee feared that its first African-American basketball coach would be rejected for the traditional perk based on race. Club officials at the time acknowledged that bylaws blocked women from joining, but said no written policy blocked African-Americans — though there had never been any black members in what was then Cherokee's 95-year history.

So, in 1989, club officials said that women could not join. Slatery joined "in the '80s."

Whether intentionally or not, Slatery joined an organization that limited its membership based on gender and submitted an incorrect application for Attorney General to the Supreme Court. Whether he was aware of any discrimination or not is immaterial, the club had, at the time he joined, a specific policy to exclude women.