Confirmation Fight

By Mitch Frank

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES...

When John Ashcroft faces his former Senate colleagues, the Judiciary Committee's Democrats will come armed with his past. Liberal groups have been kind enough to send them every detail of his record. Their No. 1 concern--like that of many Americans polled by TIME/CNN--is whether he will enforce laws he doesn't agree with. Here's a preview of what the Democrats will grill him on:

Civil Rights

The million-dollar question: Why did Ashcroft lead the charge to defeat Justice Ronnie White's nomination to the federal bench? Because White was soft on the death penalty? Because he was black? Or because, as a state legislator, White killed an Ashcroft-backed abortion ban?

In a 1998 interview in Southern Partisan, Ashcroft praised the neo-Confederate magazine for defending "Southern patriots" like Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson. The magazine has long argued slavery was beneficial to blacks.

Ashcroft went to Bob Jones University to accept an honorary degree in 1999. Did he know about the school's ban on interracial dating? Does he really believe, as he said that day, that the school honors the principle that all men are created equal?

He helped defeat James Hormel's nomination to be ambassador to Luxembourg because Hormel is openly gay, arguing Hormel would promote a sinful lifestyle.

Abortion

In the Senate, Ashcroft sponsored the Human Life amendment, which would have defined life as beginning at fertilization--barring abortion and some forms of contraception.

Ashcroft fought Surgeon General David Satcher's nomination because Satcher did not support a partial-birth-abortion ban.

Ashcroft once wrote, "If I had the opportunity to pass but a single law, I would fully recognize the constitutional right to life of every unborn child, and ban every abortion except for those medically necessary to save the life of the mother."

Gun Control

Ashcroft campaigned for a '99 Missouri referendum to allow concealed weapons.

In the Senate, he voted against safety locks,the assault-weapons ban and closing the gun-show loophole. The National Rifle Association has been one of his strongest financial backers.

--By Mitch Frank

...AND WHAT'S AT STAKE?

George W. Bush could have avoided a lot of headaches if he had nominated John Ashcroft to be Secretary of Agriculture. Because the Attorney General plays such a critical role in any Administration, Ashcroft's opponents felt they could not sit still. As the nation's top lawyer and top cop, the Attorney General oversees an enormous network of law-enforcement officers and attorneys, supervising the FBI, the INS, the DEA, the Witness Protection Program and the U.S. Marshals. As chief attorney, he prosecutes everything from tax fraud to money laundering to illegal gun sales to patent violations.

With such a vast fief, every AG must decide where to devote limited money and manpower. The Carter Justice Department focused on white-collar crime. Four years later, Ronald Reagan's zeroed in on organized crime and drugs. Ashcroft's opponents question whether he will diligently prosecute civil rights violations, which include not only discrimination but also blocking access to abortion clinics. Will big polluters face environmental prosecution? Will Ashcroft press the government's case against Microsoft as the company appeals?

What may frighten Ashcroft's detractors most is the role he will have in appointing judges to the federal bench. Although the President has the final word, the Attorney General has a big hand in selecting candidates. With the recent Supreme Court decision fresh in the nation's mind, the importance of lifetime appointees to the bench is clear to both sides.

--M.F.