The British government has no intention of announcing an inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Mr Pat Finucane in advance of the Clinton visit, according to the Northern Ireland Office.
Mr George Howarth, Northern Ireland Office Minister, said it would be "cynical in the extreme" to concede an inquiry in return for SDLP support for new policing arrangements.
"Our dealings with the SDLP and other parties are based on something entirely different to that," Mr Howarth said.
He added that all options remained open on the Finucane case. "The immediate priority is to complete the Stevens investigation. All allegations will be fully and fairly investigated and we would not wish to do anything now which would prejudice the investigations," he said.
He added that a judicial inquiry had not been ruled out in the case of Ms Rosemary Nelson (another assassination victim), but "we believe a decision should not be made while an active criminal investigation is ongoing".
Neither had an inquiry been ruled out in the case of Mr Robert Hamill (kicked to death in Portadown).
The family of Mr Finucane reiterated their call for a public judicial inquiry into his death. "Our demand should not be conditional on any changes to policing in Northern Ireland," a statement said. "This family does not consider that an issue such as the state-sponsored murder of any person should be allowed to be used as a political trade-off by the British government."