News

Senate confirms controversial appointment

By Daily Bruin Staff

Feb. 1, 2001 9:00 p.m.

By David Drucker
Daily Bruin Reporter

John Ashcroft was confirmed Thursday as the new United States
attorney general, ending weeks of contentious debate on Capitol
Hill and across the nation.

With a majority vote of 58-42 in the Senate ““ which
included eight supporting Democrats ““ the conservative
Republican Ashcroft cleared the final hurdle between himself and
leadership of the Justice Department.

No GOP senators voted against Ashcroft, who was a senator from
Missouri until his November election defeat. Among those who voted
against him were Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn.

Democratic leaders indicated prior to inauguration day that
President George W. Bush deserved the right to assemble a cabinet
of his choosing. But many felt that Ashcroft, a self-described
religious Christian who is on the record against abortion rights
and affirmative action, was too politically outside of the American
mainstream.

Feinstein spokesman Jim Hock said although the Senator believes
the President is entitled to pick his cabinet, she voted against
Ashcroft because he is too conservative.

“Her main concerns revolved around the right to choose,
civil rights and gay rights,” Hock said. “Plus, we
received over 60,000 calls and e-mails from constituents who are
against his appointment, and the calls are still coming
in.”

But those who favored Ashcroft’s nomination, such as Sen.
Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, were pleased to see President Bush’s
most controversial cabinet appointee confirmed.

“Sen. Hatch is convinced that the Attorney General will
not have any trouble enforcing the law, even if he doesn’t
personally always agree with it,” said Christopher Rosche, a
spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.

Rosche said Hatch believed the opposition to Ashcroft could be
primarily be boiled down to partisan politics, and added that Hatch
was surprised at the extreme efforts of left-wing groups to derail
his nomination.

“These groups most likely resisted Ashcroft because he is
so conservative,” Rosche said. “But the Senator hopes
the opposition doesn’t have anything to do with
Ashcroft’s religiosity.”

Whether or not Ashcroft confirms the fears of those on the left
and uses the 131-year-old Justice Department to attack abortion
rights and ignore civil rights legislation remains to be seen.
Though possible, many factors, including Ashcroft’s 25-year
record as an elected official, may make such a strategy
unlikely.

“Serving as attorney general is certainly more than
enforcing the law,” said political science professor Scott
James. “You can have the most stringent laws on the books,
but without enforcement they don’t mean anything.”

But James was quick to add that Ashcroft will have more to
consider when prioritizing which violations to prosecute ““ or
not ““ than simply his own political whim.

“President Bush appears to be moving to the center,
because of its strategic importance,” James said. “So
if the Democrats start screaming bloody murder about something
involving the Justice Department, that’s not just a problem
for the Attorney General, that’s a problem for the
President.”

Despite Feinstein’s concern over Ashcroft’s
politics, she has otherwise good things to say about her former
colleague.

“She respects the attorney general, and enjoyed working
with him in the areas of crime and public safety,” Hock
said.

Rosche added that the left’s warnings that
Ashcroft’s conservative bent will cause him to ignore
enforcement of certain laws are, for the most part, without
merit.

“When he was attorney general of Missouri, he was praised
by a lot of people for enforcing laws that he didn’t agree
with,” he said.

“The opposition to him was unexpected because these issues
have never been raised about him before, and he’s been a
public figure for a long time,” Rosche continued.

DEMOCRATIC SENATORS IN FAVOR OF JOHN ASHCROFT
John Ashcroft was confirmed for U.S. attorney general on a
vote of 58 to 42. Only 51 votes were needed for confirmation, and
there were no dissenting Republican votes. The Senate is split on
party lines 50-50. John Ashcroft