Mary Frances Berry, chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, resigned yesterday after more than two decades of criticizing the administrations, both Democratic and Republican, that she served.
Berry, an independent, and Vice Chairman Cruz Reynoso, a Democrat, sent resignation letters to President Bush a day after the White House moved to replace the two. Both had resisted leaving Monday, arguing that their terms would not expire until midnight Jan. 21, 2005.
 
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The White House maintained that their six-year terms expired on Sunday, and that they had been replaced.
In brief letters to Bush, Berry and Reynoso said that they believethey still have time left to serve but that it is not worth the fight.
"Given that the conclusion of my tenure is only a few weeks away, a legal challenge would be an unwise expenditure of resources," wrote Berry, a civil rights history professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "Therefore, I am resigning my position as commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights effective immediately."
Berry did not mention in her letter her more than two decades on the commission, during which she served for five presidents and criticized them all.
White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said Berry's and Reynoso's terms on the commission had ended.
"While we are grateful for the service of Berry and Reynoso, their terms ended, and their replacements have been named, and we're working on an orderly transition," Lisaius said. "The president is moving now to ensure the commission has direction and leadership to continue its work."
First appointed by President Jimmy Carter, Berry became chairman in 1993. She earned plaudits from supporters as a civil rights hero and criticism from opponents as overly divisive.
President Ronald Reagan fired her but had to reinstate her after a lawsuit. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton also came in for criticism.
Most recently, Berry sided with other Democratic-leaning commissioners and kept a report critical of President Bush on the commission's Web site before the Nov. 2 election.
When the commissioners finally voted on the report, the outcome was 4 to 4, a typical division of Democratic-leaning and Republican-leaning commissioners that could change with the new Bush appointees.
The newly named commissioners are Gerald A. Reynolds, former assistant secretary for the office of civil rights in the Education Department, and lawyer Ashley L. Taylor of Richmond.
Bush intends to designate Reynolds as commission chairman, succeeding Berry, and to name Abigail Thernstrom, already a commission member, as vice chairman.
The eight-member panel investigates civil rights complaints and publicizes its findings but has no enforcement power.
