January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S839 they are not burdened with the respon- as an outcome of this debate we end up he proved himself a leader in many sibility and debt of the obligations of jeopardizing Social Security or Medi- areas, including the fight against drugs our generation. care, then we have not met our moral and violence, the assessment of the What does a national debt of $5.7 tril- and social obligation to the millions of proper role of the Justice Department, lion cost us? Literally, we collect $1 Americans who have paid into these and the protection of victims’ rights. billion a day in Federal taxes from in- systems and depend on them to sur- But, having heard the relentless dividuals, families, and businesses to vive. drumbeat of accusation after accusa- pay interest on old debt. That is $1 bil- I believe the good news about the tion in recent weeks, I can fairly say, lion a day that isn’t being spent to put surplus should be realistic news. We in my view, that there has been an a computer in a classroom or to make should understand that surpluses are unyielding effort to redefine this man America’s national defense any strong- not guaranteed. We ought to make cer- of unlimited integrity. Some have er. It is $1 billion a day which instead tain that any tax cut we are talking termed the statements made by John is being spent for interest on old debt. about is not at the expense of Social Ashcroft, during the nearly four days Many of us believe if we truly are at Security and Medicare. We should of hearings in the committee, a ‘‘con- a time of surplus, this is the moment focus the tax cuts on working families firmation conversion’’—‘‘a metamor- we should seize to pay down that na- to make sure they are the beneficiaries phosis.’’ tional debt, bring it down as low as we so that they have the funds they need On the contrary. The true metamor- can conceivably bring it so that future to make their lives easier. That should phosis of John Ashcroft is in the mis- generations and our kids and grandkids be the bottom line in this debate. leading picture painted of him by nar- won’t be burdened with this debt and As I said at the outset, Democrats row left-wing interest groups. In fact, I responsibility. and Republicans alike believe these tax welcomed them to the committee, and As you pay down the national debt, cuts are going to happen. I believe it is said: We haven’t seen you for 8 years. I the competition for money in the mar- a good thing to do. Let us pay down think there is a lot to be garnered out ketplace is reduced. The Federal Gov- this national debt. Let us provide a tax of that statement. ernment is not out there borrowing and cut for the families who need it. Let’s As my colleagues are well aware, servicing debt. Therefore, interest make sure we protect Social Security John Ashcroft has an impressive 30- rates tend to come down. Now not only and Medicare in the process. year record of loyal public service as a will we be taking the burden off of fam- I yield back my time. state attorney general, a two term ilies who pay $1 billion a day for inter- f Governor, and then—of course—as Sen- est on the old debt, we will also be re- ator, for the State of Missouri. I should ducing the interest rates they pay on CONCLUSION OF MORNING also mention that as Missouri’s attor- their homes and their cars and their BUSINESS ney general, he was so well respected credit cards. Families win both ways. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- that he was elected by his peers across Ultimately, this is as good, if not pore. Morning business is closed. the nation to head the National Asso- better, in many respects, as a tax cut. f ciation of Attorneys General, and It reduces the cost of living for real again as Governor, he was elected by families facing real difficulties. EXECUTIVE SESSION this nation’s governors to serve as the Let me speak for a moment about the head of the National Governors’ Asso- tax cut itself. There are a variety of NOMINATION OF JOHN ASHCROFT ciation. ways we can approach this tax cut. That really defines John Ashcroft TO BE ATTORNEY GENERAL Some have suggested cutting marginal rather than some of the accusations rates. That is a shorthand approach to The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- that have been thrown against him in a tax cut which would, in fact, benefit pore. Under the previous order, the the Senate. some of the wealthiest people in this Senate will now go into executive ses- I have said this before and I will say country more than working families sion and proceed to the Ashcroft nomi- it again, of the sixty-seven Attorneys and middle-income families. That is nation, which the clerk will report. General we have had, only a handful where I have some difficulty. The assistant legislative clerk read even come close to having some of the I know what is going on in my home the nomination of John Ashcroft, of qualifications that John Ashcroft State of Illinois now. I know because Missouri, to be Attorney General. brings in assuming the position of chief my wife called me a few weeks ago and The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- law enforcement officer of this great said: I just got the first gas bill for the pore. The Senator from Utah. nation. winter. You will never guess what hap- Mr. HATCH. Mr. President. I am The Department of Justice, of course, pened. It is up to $400 a month in pleased that the Judiciary Committee encompasses broad jurisdiction. It in- Springfield, IL. It is about a 40-percent yesterday evening favorably reported cludes agencies ranging from the Drug increase in my hometown. I hear this the nomination of Senator John Enforcement Administration, the Im- story all over Illinois, all over the Ashcroft to be the next Attorney Gen- migration and Naturalization Service, country—energy bills up 50 percent, eral of the United States. I look for- the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the Federal natural gas bills up 70 percent. If we ward to a fair debate of Senator Bureau of Investigation, the United talk about tax cuts, we ought to be Ashcroft’s qualifications and am hope- States Attorneys, to the Bureau of thinking about families who are lit- ful that we could move to a vote on his Prisons. It includes, among other erally struggling with these day-to-day confirmation this week. It is important things, enforcement of the law in areas bills. Whether it is the need to heat that we confirm Senator Ashcroft as including antitrust, terrorism, fraud, your home or to pay for a child’s col- soon as possible so that the President money laundering, organized crime, lege education or perhaps for tuition in has his Cabinet in place and he can drugs, and immigration. To effectively a school, should we not focus tax cuts move ahead with the people’s agenda. prevent and manage crises in these im- on the working families who struggle John Ashcroft is no stranger to most portant areas, one thing is certain: we to get by every single day? of us in this body. We have served with need, at the helm, a no-nonsense per- I always express concern on the Sen- him during his 6 years of service as the son with the background and experi- ate floor that we seem to have more Senator representing Missouri, some ence of John Ashcroft. sympathy for the wealthiest people in had worked with him when he was Gov- Those charged with enforcing the law this country than for those who are ernor and some others had worked with of the nation must demonstrate both a really struggling every single day to him when he was the Attorney General proper understanding of that law and a build their families and make them of Missouri. determination to uphold its letter and strong. If we are going to have a tax In the Senate, he served on the Judi- spirit. This is the standard I have ap- cut—and we should—let’s make sure ciary Committee with distinction over plied to nominees in the past, and this the tax cut benefits those families. the past four years—working closely is the standard I am applying to John I also want to make certain we pro- with members on both sides of the Ashcroft here today in my full-hearted tect Social Security and Medicare. If aisle. As a member of the committee, support of his nomination to be the

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 01:39 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.011 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S840 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 next Attorney General of the United sleep at night without worrying about have a right to impugn a man’s integ- States. the safety of their children or about be- rity, or distort his record, which I During John Ashcroft’s 30-year ca- coming victims of crime themselves. think they have done. reer in public service, he has worked to As someone who both knows John Sometimes in life, though, the meas- establish numerous things to keep Ashcroft as a person and who is famil- ure of a person is best seen in times of Americans safe and free from criminal iar with his distinguished 30-year adversity. So it is with John Ashcroft activities. For example, he has: (1) record of enforcing and upholding the who, after a difficult battle for some- fought for tougher sentencing laws for law, I can tell you that I feel a great thing that meant a great deal to him— serious crimes; (2) authored legislation sense of comfort and a newfound secu- re-election to the Senate—resisted to keep drugs out of the hands of chil- rity in the likely prospect of his con- calls to challenge the outcome of that dren; (3) improved our nation’s immi- firmation to be our nation’s chief law election. His own words during this dif- gration laws; (4) protected citizens enforcement officer. ficult time say it best: from fraud; (5) protected competition Mr. President, as I told my com- Some things are more important than poli- in business; (6) supported funding in- mittee colleagues last night, we have tics, and I believe doing what’s right is the served with John Ashcroft, and we most important thing we can do. I think as creases for law enforcement; (7) held public officials we have the opportunity to the first hearings ever on racial know that he is a man of integrity, model values for our culture—responsibility, profiling; (8) fought for victims’ rights committed to the rule of law and the dignity, decency, integrity, and respect. And in the courts of law and otherwise; (9) Constitution. We know that he is a if we can only model those when it’s politi- helped to enact the violence against man of compassion, faith, and devotion cally expedient to do so, we’ve never mod- women bill; (10) supported provisions to family. We know that he is a man of eled the values, we’ve only modeled political making violence at abortion clinics impeccable credentials and many ac- expediency. fines non-dischargeable in bankruptcy; complishments. Contrary to what a few special inter- (11) authored anti-stalking laws; (12) Some have charged that we are ask- est groups with a narrow political fought to allow women accused of ing that the Senate apply a different agenda would have us believe, these are homicide to have the privilege of pre- standard to John Ashcroft than other not the words of an extremist or a divi- senting battered spouse syndrome evi- nominees because he was a member of sive ideologue. These are the words of a dence in the courts of law. On that this cherished body. Let me be clear. I fine public servant who is a man of his point, I should add that as governor, he am not asking nor advocating that a word and of faith and who is willing to do the right thing, even when it means commuted the sentences of two women standard be applied to his nomination that is different than that which is ap- putting himself last. who did not have that privilege; (13) Mr. President, John Ashcroft, like plied to other nominees. I am simply signed Missouri’s hate crimes bill into many of us, is a man of strongly held saying that you have worked with him law. views. I have every confidence, based and know him to be a man of his word. I could go on and on. His record is on his distinguished record, that as At- He is not the man unfairly painted as distinguished. torney General, he will vigorously I am getting a little irritated that an extremist by the left-wing activists work to enforce the law—whether or some even implied that he might be a who have reportedly threatened Sen- not the law happens to be consistent racist, but all, including the judge for ators in their re-election bids if they with his personal views. Ronnie White, said they do not believe vote for his confirmation. Mr. President, As I asked my col- he is a racist. In fact, he is not. His They present a man that none of us leagues in the Judiciary Committee, I record proves he is not. I might add really know. They have distorted his ask that in keeping with our promise that his record proves that he is in the record and impugned his character and to work in a bipartisan fashion, we re- mainstream of our society. have exaggerated their case. ject the politics of division. If we want Senator Ashcroft appeared before the I am saying that a nominee, espe- to encourage the most qualified citi- Judiciary Committee for two days and cially one we all personally know to be zens to serve in government, we must answered all questions completely, a man of deep faith and integrity, de- do everything we can to stop what has honestly and with the utmost humil- serves to be given the benefit of the been termed the politics of personal de- ity. Over the inaugural weekend, he re- doubt when he commits to us under struction. This is not to say that we ceived over 400 questions. He com- oath that he will enforce and uphold should put an end to an open and can- pletely answered these follow-up ques- the rule of law regardless of his per- did debate on policy issues. Quite the tions that the Senators both on and off sonal or religious beliefs. contrary: our system of government is the committee sent to him. He has tes- Mr. President, that is the benefit we designed to promote the expression of tified and committed both orally and accorded General Reno, President Clin- these differences and our Constitution in writing that he will uphold the laws ton’s nominee 8 years ago. She was pro- protects that expression. But the fact of the United States, regardless of his abortion, she had said so. She was anti- is that all of us both Democrats and religious views on the policy which, death penalty, she had said so. On both Republicans, know the difference be- within his constitutional duties as a of these issues, among others, she had tween legitimate policy debate and un- Senator, he may have advocated chang- a totally different ideological view warranted personal attacks promoted— ing. He understands his role as the than almost all of the Republican Sen- and sometimes urged—by narrow inter- chief law enforcement officer of this ators serving at the time. But she com- est groups. nation. mitted to uphold the laws of the land, Mr. President, let me cite just one Virtually every Senator on the com- regardless of her personal views. and example of what I mean by the narrow mittee and every Senator in this Sen- we accorded her the benefit of the interest group campaign of personal de- ate has to admit he has the utmost in- doubt which I believe President Bush’s struction. Many may have read, hope- tegrity, honor, dignity, and decency. If nominee similarly deserves, especially fully with disbelief and dismay, a New that is true, why not give him the ben- since we all know him. York Times report, the day following efit of the doubt rather than the other I ask that we evaluate this man the release of the transcript of Senator way? based on his record, his testimony, and Ashcroft’s speech at the Bob Jones We saw at the four days of hearings based on your personal experiences University, which read, ‘‘the leader of a that even when he disagreed with the with him. We know John Ashcroft is major liberal group opposing Mr. underlying policies, he has an not an extremist. That is the image of Ashcroft’s nomination expressed dis- undisputable record of enforcing the him that has been painted through a appointment that the comments were laws. This was the case with respect to vicious campaign by a well organized not much different from those many abortion laws, gun laws, or laws relat- group of left-wing special interest ac- politicians offer in religious settings.’’ ing to the separation of church and tivists. The piece continued, quoting this state. They have a right to be active. They ‘‘leader’’ as saying ‘‘ ‘[t]his, clearly, Mr. President, a great number of peo- have a right to complain. They have a will not do it,’ this person said of hopes ple have said to me that they are tired right to find fault. They have a right to that the speech might help defeat the of living in fear. They want to go to present their case. But they do not nomination.’’

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 01:39 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.007 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S841 Let me note that some opponents est. I personally resent those who try and were going to leave the committee, have charged that Senator Ashcroft’s to say otherwise and try to impugn as well as some we anticipated would answers at the hearing and his written that reputation. be coming in from both the Republican answers to the approximately 400 ques- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- and Democratic side, to sit in on those tions sent to him by Judiciary Com- pore. The Senator from Vermont, Mr. hearings. I mention this because we did mittee members were evasive. Wrong. LEAHY. not actually set the membership of our I don’t know of any case where we Mr. LEAHY. I appreciate the com- committee until last Thursday, but we had that many questions of a Cabinet ments of my friends from Utah and the did this ahead of time. official. Usually it is an insignificant distinguished chairman of the Senate The committee heard from every sin- number. Judiciary Committee. He suggests a lot gle witness Senator Ashcroft or Sen- Throughout, Senator Ashcroft has of questions were asked of Senator ator HATCH wanted to call in his behalf. consistently and persuasively re- Ashcroft. I read today in the Wall This is not a case where suddenly one sponded that he will enforce the law ir- Street Journal, a newspaper that has side or the other was something loaded respective of his personal views. His strongly backed Senator Ashcroft, they up. I think there were an equal number long and distinguished record in Mis- believe we didn’t ask enough questions, of witnesses on both sides. We com- souri supports his commitment to fol- especially concerning fundraising ac- pleted the oral questioning of Senator low and observe the rule of law. But tivities by Senator Ashcroft. Ashcroft in less than a day and a half. that record is ignored by his critics. I ask unanimous consent that the ar- We limited each Member to two rounds For some of those looking to oppose ticle from the Wall Street Journal be of questions, for a total of only 20 min- him, he simply cannot do anything printed in the RECORD at the conclu- utes. The nominee was not invited right. When he answers questions in de- sion of my remarks. back by the Republicans following the tail to attempt to explain his record, The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. testimony of the public witnesses. As a he’s termed evasive because he should BUNNING). Without objection, it is so result, any unanswered questions had have simply answered ‘‘yes’’ if he real- ordered. to be answered in writing. ly meant it. When he answers a ques- (See Exhibit 1.) We then expedited the sending of tion with a simple and straightforward Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, when we written questions to the nominee. We yes, he’s accused of not confronting the talk about the time involved in a nomi- sent the majority of written questions issue completely. nation such as this, I recall the last on Friday, January 19, the last day of Let us be clear. John Ashcroft is controversial nomination for Attorney the hearing, rather than waiting until strongly pro-life. He always has been as General we had when the Republicans the following Monday when they were far as I know, and I expect he always controlled the Senate. That was for due. Senator HATCH sent out the final will be. He is a deeply religious man— Edwin Meese. It took considerably batch of written questions on the Tues- he always has been as far as I know, longer, with far more witnesses and day following the hearing. We received some of what were de- and I expect he always will be. He has questions than we are having in this scribed as answers to some of the writ- strenuously committed to a policy of debate. We sometimes forget the his- ten followup questions sent to the equal justice and opportunity for all— tory of what goes on here. and has a long record which supports This is a case where the White House nominee late last Thursday. It is clear from those answers that the nominee this commitment of these matters. But actually sent Senator Ashcroft’s nomi- has chosen not to respond to our con- he opposed Mr. Hormel for an ambas- nation to the Senate on Monday—Mon- cerns or address many of our questions. sadorship, as did a number of his col- day of this week, 2 days ago. We are In fact, the committee has had out- leagues; he opposed Bill Lann Lee, as having the debate on the floor today. standing requests to the nominee to did eight other Republicans on the Ju- Prior to the President’s inauguration, provide a copy of the entire videotape diciary Committee, including myself; the Democrats controlled the Senate. of the commencement proceedings in and he opposed Justice Ronnie White. We moved forward even without the pa- which he participated at Bob Jones This is the record upon which many perwork or anything else from the in- University, as has been discussed here paint John Ashcroft as a right wing ex- coming transition team. We moved for- on the floor. We have had that request tremist. I disagree. ward to speed up a hearing on Senator pending since early January. That vid- Let me simply conclude by repeating Ashcroft. eotape was provided, incidentally, to the words of John Ashcroft which I Today we begin the debate on the news outlets but not to the committee. cited earlier. ‘‘Some things are more floor, after the Judiciary Committee I have also requested that the nomi- important than politics, and I believe debated the nomination yesterday and nee provide a formal response to the al- doing what’s right is the most impor- voted yesterday evening. As I said, I legations that while he was Governor tant thing we can do.’’ I only hope that convened 3 days of hearings on this of Missouri he asked about a job appli- my colleagues will heed these words as nomination over a 4-day period from cant’s sexual preference in an inter- they consider their vote in the Senate. January 16 to January 19. That was view, and we have not received any an- I urge my colleagues to vote yes on prior to having received all the paper- swer. this nomination. work on Senator Ashcroft. We did that There have been references on the By the way, I am urging my col- to help the new administration. The floor already today as though there leagues to do what we did for Attorney Republican leadership announced were some kind of left-wing conspiracy General Reno: Give John Ashcroft the weeks ago that all 50 Republican Sen- to defeat John Ashcroft. I am not benefit of the doubt instead of taking ators would vote in favor of the nomi- aware of that. I have asked my ques- the exact opposite tack, of which I nation, irrespective of whatever came tions as the Senator from Vermont, think I have seen enough evidence. out of those hearings. I am glad that and I responded to the interests of my When Attorney General Reno came up, other Senators declined to prejudge the constituents, both for and against Sen- there were 2 days of hearings. In fact, matter. ator Ashcroft, from Vermont. there was only 1 day for Attorney Gen- Actually, the Committee on the Judi- But if there is any question of wheth- eral Dick Thornburgh. There were only ciary has done the best we could to er there is influence of anybody on this 2 days for Attorney General Bill Barr, handle this nomination fairly and nomination, I will refer to the New only 2 days for Janet Reno. In none of fully. We have had hearings, I think, York Times of Sunday, January 7, and those cases did we allow right-wing that make all members of the com- the Washington Post of Tuesday, Janu- groups to come in and attack the wit- mittee and the Senate proud. I have ary 2, in which they quote a number of ness. We allowed them to submit state- served in this body for 26 years. I be- people from the far right of the Repub- ments, but we didn’t go on and on try- lieve very much in the committee sys- lican Party who openly bragged about ing to destroy the reputation of really tem. I believe very much in having real the fact that they told the new Presi- good people. John Ashcroft is really hearings and then having a record dent he could not appoint Governor good people. He is a decent, honorable, available for Senators. Racicot of Montana—whom he wanted religious, thoughtful, kind man who In fact, we actually invited Senators to appoint—but that he must appoint has a reputation of being fair and hon- who had served in the 106th Congress John Ashcroft.

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:14 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.003 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S842 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 I mention that because, if anybody We may want to consider and con- who became President—saw the man thinks this nomination has been influ- trast the behavior that has been en- who became President declared the vic- enced by liberal groups, the only ones gaged in on the other side. We have tor of the Presidential election by one who have actually determined this talked about the time this may have electoral vote. nomination and have openly gone to taken. We had the hearing, we expe- I do not question the fact that Presi- the press and bragged about influ- dited the debate, and we came to the dent Bush is legitimately our Presi- encing it are an element of the far floor. The consideration of the nomina- dent. Of course, he is. I was at the inau- right of the Republican Party. They tion of Attorney General Meese when guration. We all were. He was inaugu- have openly bragged about the fact the Republicans controlled the Sen- rated. Yet, I would hope Senators will that they told the incoming adminis- ate—with a Republican Senate, one realize the concerns in this country: tration and President Bush that he would assume that would move very One person gets half a million more could not have his first choice, the quickly—that took 13, not days, not votes, the other person becomes Presi- Governor of Montana—who is a con- weeks: 13 months. And then we had sev- dent; the one who becomes President servative Republican and now the eral days of debate in a Republican- after a disputed count in one State be- former Governor—but that he must ap- controlled Senate before final Senate comes President by one electoral vote. point Senator Ashcroft. That remains a action. He is President. He has all the pow- fact. That is why we are here. There was reference to how we how ers, he has all the obligations, all the Notwithstanding all this, and not- we handled the nomination of Attorney duties of the Presidency, and all the le- withstanding the fact that the ques- General Reno. That was noncontrover- gitimacy of the Presidency. I have no tions have not all been answered, the sial, and that still took a month from question about that. But I think he has requested material has not all been nomination to confirmation. She was an obligation to try to unite the coun- sent, we Democrats granted consent to not confirmed by the Senate until mid- try, not to divide the country. In fact, advance the markup date in order to March in the first year of President 11 days ago, President Bush acknowl- proceed yesterday afternoon and last Clinton’s term. Attorney General edged the difficulties of these times evening. As the distinguished chairman Meese was not confirmed by the Senate and the special needs of a divided Na- knows, normally we would have had until late February in 1985, at the be- tion. He said: our debate before the committee today. ginning of President Reagan’s second While many of our citizens prosper, others I said, following his request, that we term. Here we are in January. This doubt the promise, even the justice, of our would not object to moving it up 24 nomination was sent to the Senate on own country. hours. I was told the Republicans have Monday, 48 hours ago. He pledged to ‘‘work to build a single a meeting of their caucus scheduled for I hope those who advise the President nation of justice and opportunity.’’ later this week and it would accommo- will point out to him these facts so he I was one of those who had lunch date both the new administration and is not under the impression this nomi- with the new President less than an the Republicans in the Senate if we nation has been delayed from Senate hour after his inauguration. I spoke to moved that up. I agreed to that. As I consideration. The Democrats, when him and told him how much his speech said, the Senate works better if Sen- we controlled the Senate for a few meant to me. I told him he will be the ators can work together. Accommoda- weeks, expedited this. Republicans, sixth President with whom I have tion, however, does not mean changing when they controlled the Senate at the served. I told him how impressed I was one’s vote. time of President Reagan, took 13 by his inaugural speech. I said he had a We had a good debate in the com- months to get his nomination of Edwin sense of history and a sense of country, mittee. I think Republicans and Demo- Meese through. and I applauded him for it. I do think crats would agree it was a good, solid I have reviewed the hearing record the nomination of John Ashcroft to be debate. We reported the nomination to and the nominee’s responses to the Attorney General does not meet the the Senate by a margin of 10–8, a nar- written followup questions from the standard that the President himself row margin. Actually, in most of that Judiciary Committee. I did that before has set. For those who doubt the prom- debate we had between six and nine I announced I would oppose John ise of American justice—and, unfortu- Democratic Members present. We usu- Ashcroft to be Attorney General of the nately, there are many in this country ally had three to four Republican Mem- United States. who doubt it—this nomination does not bers. I have talked to the Senate already inspire confidence in the U.S. Depart- I brought with me the hearing about this, and to the committee, ment of Justice. record. Here it is, right here. This is a about my reasons for opposing the My Republican colleagues have urged good, solid record. It is part of the his- nomination. I expect we will go back to us to rely on John Ashcroft’s promise tory of the Senate. I wish all Senators this during the debate. to enforce the law, as if that is the Let’s not lose sight of the historical would review that record. Many have. only requirement to be an Attorney context in which we consider this nom- Unfortunately, we are not going to General. ination. This is an especially sensitive have a committee report on this con- If Senator Ashcroft would have come time in our Nation’s history. Many troversial nomination. I think we before the committee and said he seeds of disunity have been carried would have been helped by doing that. would not enforce the law, we would aloft by winds that come in gusts—es- There was a time when we did seek to not be debating this issue today. I can- pecially, unfortunately, from the State inform the Senate with committee re- not imagine any nominee—and I have of Florida. The Presidential election, ports on nominations, nominations sat in on hundreds of nomination hear- the margin of victory, the way in such as that of Brad Reynolds or Wil- ings—would say they would not enforce which the vote counting was halted by liam Bennett and a number of impor- the law. That is not the end of the five members of the U.S. Supreme tant and controversial judicial nomina- story. The Senate’s constitutional duty Court—these remain sources of public tions. We prepared such reports when to advise and consent is not limited to concern and even alienation. Deep divi- Senator THURMOND required that as extracting a promise from a nominee sions within our country have infected chairman. that he will abide by his oath of office. the body politic. We experienced the In lieu of a committee report, each Let me quote what my good friend, closest Presidential election in the last Senator is left with the task of review- Senator HATCH, said on the floor on No- 130 years, probably the closest in our ing the record and searching his or her vember 4, 1997, about the nomination of history. For the first time, a candidate conscience and deciding how to vote. Bill Lann Lee to be Assistant Attorney I did put into the RECORD a large and who received more votes than were General for Civil Rights: I hoped complete brief prepared by me cast for the victor in the last three and the lawyers on the Senate Judici- elections for President, who received His talents and good intentions have taken him far. But his good intentions should not ary staff—Bruce Cohen, Beryl Howell, half a million more votes than the per- be sufficient to earn the consent of this Julie Katzman, Tim Lynch and oth- son who eventually was inaugurated as body. Those charged with enforcing the Na- ers—which I think would be very help- President—received half a million tion’s law must demonstrate a proper under- ful to the Senate. more votes, I should say, than the man standing of that law, and a determination to

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:14 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.021 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S843 uphold its letter and its spirit * * *. At his untary desegregation. I am sure with is not the way we go about our respon- hearing before the Judiciary Committee, Mr. murder cases or anything else such as sibility of advise and consent. Remem- Lee suggested he would enforce the law with- that he would enforce the law, but it is ber, the Constitution does say advise out regard to his personal opinions. But that cannot be the end of our inquiry. The Sen- how he chose to decide which of those and consent, not advise and rubber ate’s responsibility is then to determine discretionary areas to act in that trou- stamp. what the nominee’s view of the law is. bles me. That is why, as chairman of the Judi- Like Senator Ashcroft, Bill Lann Lee He has used language here describing ciary Committee, during the weeks I promised to enforce the law as inter- the judiciary that is disturbing to held that post, I refused to railroad preted by the Supreme Court. He made many. He has shown what Senator this nomination through. Instead, I the promise emphatically, he made it BIDEN calls ‘‘bad judgment’’ in associ- had full, fair, informative hearings to repeatedly, and he made it specifically ating with Bob Jones University and review the nominee’s record and posi- with respect to certain Supreme Court Southern Partisan magazine, and he tions. decisions with which he may have per- unfairly besmirched the reputations of The American people are entitled to sonally disagreed. Despite all of Bill Presidential nominees, including Judge an Attorney General who is more than Lann Lee’s assurances that he would Ronnie White and Ambassador James just an amiable friend to many of us enforce the law, the Republican-con- Hormel. here in the Senate and promises more trolled Senate would not allow a vote I am particularly concerned that he than just a bare minimum that he will up or down on the floor on his has not fully accepted what he now enforce the law. They are entitled to nomination. calls the settled law regarding a wom- someone who will uphold the Constitu- I believe John Ashcroft’s assurances an’s right to choose. His confirmation tion as interpreted by the Supreme that he would enforce the law is not evolution seems implausible, given his Court, respect the courts, abide by de- the end of our inquiry. Far more than support less than 3 years ago for the cisions he disagrees with, and enforce the Assistant Attorney General for Human Life Act, which he now admits the law for everybody regardless of pol- Civil Rights, a job to which Bill Lann is unconstitutional even though he itics. The way to determine that is to Lee was nominated, the Attorney Gen- supported it, and his denial of the ‘‘le- look at the nominee’s record, not to eral has vast authority to interpret the gitimacy’’ of Roe and Casey in the 1997 engage in metaphysical speculation law and to participate in the law’s de- ‘‘Judicial Despotism’’ speech, in which about his heart. velopment. he called the Supreme Court ‘‘ruffians John Ashcroft’s stubborn insistence Unlike one of his assistants, he has in robes.’’ on re-litigating a voluntary desegrega- to be held to a higher standard because I have disagreed with the Supreme tion decree consented to by all the he sets the policy. The assistant car- Court on some cases, but I have never other parties over and over again, at ries out the policy of the Attorney called them that. great expense to the State of Missouri General. The Attorney General’s job is His assurances are totally undercut and with sometimes damaging disrup- not merely to decide whether common by the recent remarks of President tion to the education of Missouri’s crimes, such as bank robbery, should Bush and Vice President CHENEY. Just children, is relevant. It is relevant be- be prosecuted. Of course, they should. 1 day after Senator Ashcroft assured cause someone who has used his power Does anybody believe that whoever is the committee that Roe and Casey as a State Attorney General to delay Attorney General faced with something were settled law and that he would not and obstruct efforts to remedy past ra- as horrendous as the Oklahoma City seek an opportunity to overturn them, cial discrimination by the State, and bombing is going to say, ‘‘I am not the President said he would not rule who has then publicly excoriated the going to prosecute’’? Does anybody be- out having the Justice Department judges who ruled against him and made lieve an Attorney General faced with a argue for that result. The Vice Presi- a major political issue of his disagree- skyjacking or assassination is going to dent similarly refused to commit him- ments with the courts, may use his say, ‘‘I am not going to prosecute’’? Of self on this issue over the weekend. greater power as the U.S. Attorney course, they are going to prosecute. A promise to enforce the law is only General for similarly divisive political But there are many other less spec- a minimum qualification for the job of purposes. tacular matters, matters that are not Attorney General. It is not a sufficient His effort as a State Attorney Gen- in the news every day, where the At- one. It is simply not enough just to say eral to suppress the political speech of torney General has to decide how the you will enforce the law. a group with which he disagreed—the law is to be enforced. The Attorney Senator Ashcroft’s record does mat- National Organization of Women—by General has more discretion in this re- ter in making a judgment about wheth- means of an antitrust suit is relevant, gard than anybody in Government. er he is the right person for this job. because it reflects on how he might re- The Attorney General advises the Throughout the committee hearings, spond to political dissent as U.S. At- President on judicial nominations. He my Republican colleagues said we torney General. decides what positions to take before should give Senator Ashcroft credit for His actions as Governor of Missouri the Supreme Court and lower Federal his public service. I agree with that, and as a U.S. Senator are also relevant. courts. He decides which of our thou- just as I give him strong credit and ad- In those offices, he took the same oath sands of statutes require defending or mire him for his devotion to his family of office to uphold the Constitution interpreting. He allocates enforcement and his religion. that he would take as U.S. Attorney resources. The Attorney General de- At the same time, my Republican General. Yet, in both of those offices, cides whom we are going to sue and, friends insist that his record and the he sponsored legislation that was pat- even more importantly, perhaps, de- positions he has taken in public service ently unconstitutional under Roe v. cides which cases we are going to set- do not matter because he will take now Wade: the 1991 anti-abortion bill in tle. He makes hiring and firing deci- a different position as U.S. Attorney Missouri, and the 1998 ‘‘Human Life sions. He sets a tone for the Nation’s General. Act’’ in the Senate. It is highly rel- law enforcement officials. President Bush asked us to look into evant to ask why, if his oath of office I think it is reasonable to go back Senator Ashcroft’s heart, but we are did not constrain him from ignoring and look at how John Ashcroft acted as being urged not to look into his record. the Constitution in those public of- attorney general before, and I go back I do not doubt the goodness of his fices, we should expect it to constrain to Missouri. Again, he was sworn to en- heart. I do doubt the consistency of his him as Attorney General. And it is also force the laws and all the laws. So how record. relevant to ask whether the same John did he focus the resources of his office? Some of my Republican colleagues Ashcroft who as a U.S. Senator went This is how he did it. went so far as to argue we should not around making public speeches calling He focused the resources of his office hear from any witnesses other than the a majority of the current conservative on banning abortions and also on nominee, that we need not review all Supreme Court ‘‘five ruffians in robes’’ blocking nurses from dispensing birth the nominee’s required financial disclo- has the temperament needed to be an control pills and IUDs. He sued polit- sures and his files and his speeches be- effective advocate before that same ical dissenters, and he fought vol- fore passing on this nomination. That Court as U.S. Attorney General.

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 03:03 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.023 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S844 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 I cannot judge John Ashcroft’s heart. nation as attorney general to the Senate national party’s Senate campaign arm to But we can all judge his record. Run- floor, even as outside critics complained that collect unregulated ‘‘soft money.’’ When he ning through that record are troubling, his history of aggressive fund raising raises was exploring a presidential bid, he went to recurrent themes: disrespect for Su- questions about his ability to enforce cam- Virginia, which has few campaign-money paign-finance laws. limits, to establish a political action com- preme Court precedent with which he The committee’s 10–8 vote, with Democrat mittee that accepted a $400,000 donation. ‘‘A disagrees; grossly intemperate criti- Russell Feingold of Wisconsin joining the blatant evasion of laws that are designed to cism of judges with whom he disagrees; committee’s nine Republicans, signaled that protect against the kind of corruption the insensitivity and bad judgment on ra- Mr. Ashcroft is almost certain to win con- attorney general is charged with upholding,’’ cial issues; and the use of distortions, firmation from the full Senate later this complains Scott Harshbarger, Common secret holds and ambushes to destroy week. But the panel’s sharp division and Cause president. the public careers of those whom he op- Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle’s In one case, Missouri Democrats allege, announcement yesterday that he will vote poses. Mr. Ashcroft went over the line of propriety. against his former colleague reflect the It dates to 1982, when Mr. Ashcroft was Mis- I cannot give my consent to this strong opposition among Democratic con- nomination. souri attorney general and brought an action stituencies to Mr. Ashcroft’s staunchly con- against a local oil company for selling taint- Mr. President, I will say more, but I servative record. ed gasoline. The company, Inland Oil, see several Senators from both sides of Mr. Daschle accused the Missouri Repub- countersued, charging that Mr. Ashcroft’s the aisle on the floor. I am going to lican of having ‘‘misled the Senate and delib- actions were motivated by his desire to win withhold in just a moment. But just erately distorted’’ the record of African- election as governor. In a deposition. Mr. think for a moment, we are a nation of American judicial nominee Ronnie White, Ashcroft’s administrative assistant said be 280 million Americans. What a fan- leading the Senate to reject Mr. White’s worked on Mr. Ashcroft’s election campaign nomination to the federal bench. Answering tastic nation we are. We range across while a state employee and contacted poten- such attacks for the GOP, Judiciary Com- tial campaign contributors from his govern- the political spectrum, across the eco- mittee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah com- nomic spectrum, all races and reli- ment office. plained that a ‘‘vicious’’ campaign by liberal The lawsuit also noted that Mr. Ashcroft gions. advocacy groups had left Democratic sen- had solicited an executive of Inland Oil for a ators giving Mr. Ashcroft ‘‘not one positive I think of, in my own case, my moth- donation to the state GOP in a fund-raising benefit of the doubt.’’ er’s family coming to this country not appeal under the state attorney general’s speaking a word of English. My grand- One of Mr. Ashcroft’s most voluble oppo- nents, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of letterhead, and that he personally sought a fathers were stonecutters in Vermont. Massachusetts, indicated that he won’t at- donation from a barge-company owner who I look at the diversity of ethnic back- tempt to block the nomination with a fili- did business with Inland. Mr. Ashcroft has grounds in our family, my wife growing buster. President Bush urged quick action by said the mail solicitation was merely sent in up speaking a language other than the Senate so that his administration could his name, and Ms. Tucker says he hadn’t English. We have great diversity in proceed with the organization of the Justice known of the barge concern’s connection to this country and, over it all, everybody Department, where a number of top depart- Inland when he sought a donation. ment appointments have been held up pend- The state later settled its complaint knowing, whether they are an immi- against Inland Oil, which in turn dropped its grant stonecutter or whether they are ing action on Mr. Ashcroft. ‘‘I would just hope there are no further counter suit. An opposing legal counsel in a wealthy Member of the Senate, the delays,’’ Mr. Bush said. ‘‘There’s been a lot that case, Alex Bartlett, says Mr. Ashcroft laws will always treat them the same; of discussion, a lot of debate . . . and it’s ‘‘caved’’ on the case to avoid answering ques- everybody knowing, whether they are now time for the vote, it seems like to me.’’ tions about his fund-raising practices. Mr. black or white, they can rely on the Actually, the former senator’s history of Bartlett also says Mr. Ashcroft later exacted law to treat them the same. campaign fund raising hasn’t been debated retribution by effectively blocking the Clin- But on top of all that, the Attorney much within the Senate. Mr. Feingold, who ton administration from nominating him for General of the United States represents backed Mr. Ashcroft in yesterday’s vote, is a federal judgeship in the mid-1990s. Former White House Counsel Abner Mikva says all of us. The Attorney General is not one of the chamber’s leading advocates of campaign reform. But yesterday, he cited then-Sen. Ashcroft told him in early 1995, ‘‘I the lawyer for the President; the Presi- the ‘‘substantial deference’’ a president de- don’t like’’ Mr. Bartlett. dent has a White House counsel. In serves in nominations. Ms. Tucker rejects that interpretation of fact, to show the separation, the White Critics say Mr. Ashcroft has repeatedly events, saying Mr. Ashcroft negotiated an House counsel does not require Senate pushed at the edges of campaign-finance reg- appropriate settlement in the Inland Oil confirmation; he or she is appointed by ulations by using taxpayer-financed office matter. If he later expressed reservations the President, and that is the choice of staff to wage election campaigns, and by about Mr. Bartlett to Mr. Mikva, she adds, the President alone. But the Attorney joining other candidates in both parties in he didn’t block him from the bench since Mr. finding loopholes that have allowed him to Bartlett was never formally nominated. She General requires confirmation because pursue larger donations than the $1,000-a- also says Mr. Ashcroft never used public em- the Attorney General represents all of person contributions permitted to a can- ployees to perform campaign work except in us. didate’s campaign committee. their off ours. We hold this country together be- Those critics, from Democrats in Mr. FUND-RAISING VEHICLES cause we assume the law treats us all Ashcroft’s home state to representatives of John Ashcroft has harvested donations, in the same. When I look at the public national organizations promoting campaign- finance overhaul, say the lack of attention recent years using these political commit- opinion polls in this country and see a tees: nation deeply divided over this choice to the issue reflects how deeply the Senate itself is steeped in the techniques of fully ex- Ashcroft 2000: Senate re-election com- for Attorney General, it shows me that ploiting the campaign-finance system. But mittee raised $8.9 million in ‘‘hard’’ money American people do not have con- at a time when an overhaul bill may soon subject to federal limits of $1,000 per indi- fidence in this nomination. I hope, if overcome lingering resistance on Capitol vidual donation, $5,000 per political action John Ashcroft is confirmed, he will Hill, they say Mr. Ashcroft’s record casts a committee. take steps to heal those divisions, take cloud over his commitment to enforce rigor- Ashcroft Victory Fund: Collected $3.8 mil- steps to say he will be the Attorney ously the laws regulating how political lion unregulated ‘‘soft’’ money during 1999– 2000, split evenly between Ashcroft 2000 and General for everybody, not just for one money is raised and spent. ‘‘The Senate has completely failed its obli- National Republican Senatorial Committee. group who told the President he had to gation to pursue this line of inquiry,’’ com- Spirit of America PAC: So-called leader- appoint him. So in that regard, I hope plains John Bonifaz, executive director of ship PAC collected $3.6 million in hard all Senators will think about that. the National Voting Rights Institute, a Bos- money since 1997, largely to finance Mr. President, I will go back to this ton nonprofit group that specializes in cam- Ashcroft’s exploration of a presidential bid. later on, but I see other Senators on paign finance and civil-rights litigation. American Values PAC: Virginia-based PAC the floor, so I yield the floor. Mr. Ashcroft’s backers on Capitol Hill and raised $586,533 beginning in 1998, which fi- nanced TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire. EXHIBIT 1 in the Bush administration dismiss the com- plaints as ideologically inspired sniping. Ad- [From the Wall Street Journal, Jan. 31, 2001] Mr. KYL addressed the Chair. ministration spokeswoman Mindy Tucker The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- SENATE PANEL BACKS ASHCROFT DESPITE says Mr. Ashcroft has ‘‘always adhered to FUND-RAISING ISSUES ator from Arizona. the law on campaign-finance issues and his Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I appreciate (By Tom Hamburger and Rachel campaign-finance practices have been above Zimmerman) reproach.’’ the comments that both Chairman WASHINGTON.—The Senate Judiciary Com- Like other senators in both parties, Mr. HATCH and Senator LEAHY have just mittee narrowly sent John Ashcroft’s nomi- Ashcroft formed a joint committee with his made with respect to this nomination.

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:14 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.026 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S845 We began when I referred to Senator ple will forget, said Mr. Mfume. For Demo- fused to enforce the Controlled Sub- LEAHY as Mr. Chairman, and now we cratic senators, in particular, this vote stances Act when it dealt with the are nearing the conclusion of this dur- comes as close to a litmus test as one can matter of assisted suicide. Yet I heard get on the issue of civil rights and equal jus- ing the time that Senator HATCH will nobody who is a critic of John Ashcroft tice under law from the party’s most loyal be referred to as Mr. Chairman. I agree, constituency. criticize Attorney General Reno for her it is time to bring the confirmation refusal to enforce existing law. Mr. President, I do not think it real- proceedings for Senator Ashcroft to a These are matters of judgment, and ly matters much. It is very clear that close. reasonable people will differ. That is I hope my colleagues will consider both liberal and conservative interest why it is especially perplexing to me to the long-range implications of their groups have weighed in on this nomina- note the vehemence with which some votes with respect to Senator Ashcroft. tion. It is totally appropriate for them have expressed opposition to Senator I have, I think, never regretted voting to do so. Therefore, I am not quite Ashcroft on the grounds that they for a nominee for office, but I have re- clear why one would make the point know he won’t enforce the law. That is gretted some of the votes I have cast that it is only conservative groups who perplexing to me. against nominees. I hope my colleagues have weighed in. Clearly, liberal groups A final point on this—it has been judge how their votes will be consid- have weighed in as well. That is their made over and over, but I think it ered a year from now, 4 years from right. bears a little bit of discussion right I, in fact, admire those Democratic now, perhaps 20 years from now, in now—Bill Lann Lee was a nominee of Senators who will vote to confirm Sen- thinking about how they will cast their Bill Clinton for a very important job in ator Ashcroft because I appreciate the votes. the Justice Department, head of the intense pressure they are under. We all Most of the points Senator LEAHY Civil Rights Division. There were many made have been made before and have have pressures, but it takes courage who opposed his nomination, including sometimes to go against what they been fairly thoroughly rehashed during myself. Senator LEAHY and others have the committee process and in other fo- may perceive as going against the been very critical of our opposition. In rums. I would really like to only re- grain in their own State. effect, they have said we should not The second point made was that this spond to three points Senator LEAHY have opposed him for that position. We just made. was a divisive nominee. It is a little applied too tough a standard; we First, he made this comment in the hard for me to understand how a nomi- should have believed him when he said Judiciary Committee meeting yester- nation can be divisive until somebody he would enforce the law. day, as well. Senator LEAHY said it is objects. President Bush laid out his po- Not getting into all of the reasons not liberal or left-wing groups that tential Cabinet, and immediately all why we didn’t think he would enforce have influenced this nomination but, attention focused on three of those the law and why, as it turns out, we rather, groups on the far right. And it nominees. They were said to be divi- were correct. Nonetheless, people such sive. They were divisive because some- is possible, of course, for anybody to as Senator LEAHY have been very crit- brag about what they may or may not body objected to them. ical of us for the stance we took. Yet have done. President Bush is fully ca- Third—and this relates to it—this they are now saying they are going to pable of deciding whom he is going to business about enforcing the law has apply the same test they say we ap- nominate for Attorney General. I was really put Senator Ashcroft in a dif- plied in the case of Bill Lann Lee. Ei- one of the people who recommended ficult position. It is a catch-22 for him; ther we were wrong in that case and John Ashcroft to him. So I do not he cannot win, literally. that test should not be applied or we If he says he will enforce the law, think we can ascribe John Ashcroft’s were right and it is a test that can be which, of course, every nominee has nomination to the fact that some peo- applied. And they then apply it and said, then he is subject to the criticism ple who are very conservative brag perhaps reach a different conclusion that this is a change, a new Ashcroft, about the fact that they stopped some- than we. body else and recommended his nomi- and we can’t believe that he will, in We should discuss this honestly. I nation. He was recommended by other fact, enforce the law. What is he to do? don’t think you can say on the one people as well, including myself. He can’t prove a negative. He can’t hand that test was wrong for Repub- In any event, I think it is rather odd prove he will not fail to enforce the licans to apply in the case of Bill Lann to suggest that liberal groups have not law. Lee but it is right for Democrats to been actively involved in this debate. We can look to his experience. We apply it in the case of John Ashcroft. Immediately after it began, I received can look to his service in the Senate. Which is it? If it is wrong for us to say One of our colleagues who will be a copy of a special report from the Peo- we just didn’t believe that Bill Lann voting on him made this statement. ple for the American Way—clearly a Lee could do what he said he would do, This is from West Virginia Democratic liberal, left leaning group—making the then the Democrats have a very tough Senator ROBERT BYRD: case against the confirmation of John argument to make that they should be Ashcroft as Attorney General. And I’m going to vote for him. He was a legis- able to say precisely that with respect lator. His opinions at that time were the page after page after page of it, in ef- opinions of someone who writes the laws. He to John Ashcroft. fect, is opposition research opposing is now going to be an officer who enforces The bottom line is, it doesn’t matter the nomination. the laws. He will put his hand on the Bible. what John Ashcroft says to some Sen- I also will note just one story from He will swear to uphold the law, that he will ators. They have reached a conclu- the Washington Times of January 17 of enforce the law. He has said so, and I take sion—I will suggest in good faith; I will this year. I will quote this at length be- him at his word. I believe Ashcroft means never question the motives of my col- cause I think it makes the point rather what he says. leagues even if they vehemently dis- clearly. Of course, some have noted that John agree with me—that he is not suitable Senate Democrats are under enormous Ashcroft is a very religious man. Yet it to be the Attorney General of the pressure from liberal interest groups to de- seems paradoxical to me that after re- United States. That is their right. feat Mr. Ashcroft, whom they accuse of in- ferring to his faith, they would some- I don’t think John Ashcroft can ever sensitivity to minorities and of harboring a how doubt that he would be firm in his satisfy them. He can say: I promise you stealth agenda to undermine abortion rights. commitment to uphold the laws. I I will uphold the law, as he did over Yesterday, Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of agree with Senator BYRD. We can trust and over and over again in the hearing. Colored People, said his organization will this man, that he will do what he says We know he is a man of integrity and ‘‘fund major information campaigns for the he will do. no one has questioned that. Yet they next 4 years’’ in States whose senators vote I will submit for the RECORD just one still apply this test which, in their in favor of Mr. Ashcroft. of the many examples that one can minds, requires them to vote against This is continuing the quotation point to about the immediate past At- his confirmation. So be it. from Mr. Mfume: torney General not enforcing the law; We have to be honest about the appli- Senators who vote for Ashcroft will not be in this case, a situation in which At- cation of these tests. If it is fair to do able to run away from this and assume peo- torney General Reno specifically re- it in the case of John Ashcroft, then it

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:14 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.027 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S846 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 was fair for Republicans to do it in the colleague, Senator LEAHY, and also, in orously defend our citizens’ most im- case of Bill Lann Lee. We simply terms of the markup, by Senator portant rights. Neither Senator reached different conclusions. If it was HATCH. Those who had the opportunity Ashcroft nor his supporters have been unfair in the case of Bill Lann Lee, to watch the course of the hearings able to provide that assurance. then it certainly can be argued to be would understand the sense of fairness Civil rights is the unfinished business unfair in the case of John Ashcroft. and fair play all of us who are members of America, and the people of this People who argue about this ‘‘rule of of the committee believe they con- country deserve an attorney general law’’ point would be much more cred- ducted the hearings with. I am grateful who is sensitive to the needs and rights ible if over the course of the last 8 to both of them. of all Americans, regardless of color. It years they would have been more out- I hope at the start of this debate that is not enough for Senator Ashcroft to spoken about the repeated problems of we can put aside the cliches and the say after the fact that he will always the immediate past administration sanctimonious attitudes we sometimes enforce the laws fairly. We must in- with respect to the rule of law. They hear on the floor of the Senate that stead examine his record as Attorney were defending their administration. those of us who have very serious and General of Missouri and as Governor of They were defending their Attorney deeply felt concerns about this nomi- Missouri and the impact he had on the General and their President. They nee somehow are responding to various civil rights of the citizens of Missouri. didn’t speak out about these matters. constituency groups, or somehow these We must consider whether as Attorney The rule of law is really at the bot- views are not deeply held or deeply val- General or Governor of Missouri, Sen- tom the most important thing that ued. I have been around here long ator Ashcroft tried to advance the those of us on the Judiciary Committee enough to know that in many situa- cause of civil rights in his state or can focus on and that we do need to tions, it is very easy for any of us to whether he tried to set up roadblocks. consider when the President has nomi- say those who agree with our position Based on the totality of his record, I nees pending on the floor. That is why are great statesmen and women, and must sadly conclude that he did the I am happy to conclude these brief re- those who differ with us are just noth- latter. I am particularly concerned marks with my view that there is no ing but ordinary politicians who are about Senator Ashcroft’s testimony on one whom I believe in more with re- not exercising their good judgment. school desegregation in St. Louis. He spect to fulfilling the responsibility to Those are policies or at least slogans asserted that the discrimination that support the rule of law than John which are sometimes used here. segregated the schools of St. Louis was Ashcroft, a man of great integrity, a This issue is too important not to from the distant past and that the man of unquestioned intelligence and have respect for those views that sup- state had not actively discriminated experience—in fact, the most experi- port the nominee as well, hopefully, as since the decision by the United States enced nominee ever for the position of those that have serious reservations Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Edu- Attorney General—a man who repeat- about it. cation in 1954. He made sweeping gen- edly was elected by his constituents in Listening to my friend from Arizona eral statements about having always Missouri, who had every opportunity to talk about the difference between Bill opposed segregation and supported in- view him as an extremist, if that in Lann Lee and this nominee, the dif- tegration. He made specific claims that fact had been the case, but it was not; ferences couldn’t have been greater. he complied with all court orders, that and a man who served in this body for Bill Lann Lee was committed to up- the state was not a party to the law- 6 years. holding the law and had a long-time suits and that the state had never been During that time, he was a friend of commitment to upholding the law. His found guilty of any wrongdoing. virtually everybody in the body be- statements to the committee con- Those statements and claims are in- cause they knew him, they liked him, firmed a commitment to uphold the consistent with the facts and with his they trusted him, and they worked law just like Dr. Satcher and Dr. Fos- record as Attorney General and Gov- with him. Therefore, it is perplexing ter. ernor of Missouri. I see no plausible and hurtful to me to hear some of the Many of us have serious concerns conclusion other than that Senator things that have been said about him about this nominee’s commitment to Ashcroft misled the committee during in connection with his confirmation. the fundamental constitutional rights his testimony. Oppose him if you will; that is your that involve millions of our fellow citi- Senator Ashcroft’s testimony that right. Reasonable people can reach dif- zens in the areas of civil rights, wom- state sponsored segregation ended in ferent conclusions about whether he en’s rights, privacy, as well as the the 1950s sheds light on his attitude should be confirmed. But we need to do issues of the Second Amendment, and about discrimination and his willing- it in a civil way so that there is not the treatment of nominees over a long ness to turn a blind eye to the lasting harm done either to the con- period of time. I think the record will disenfranchised. Responding to a list of firmation process, to the legitimacy of reflect that I find very, very powerful the state actions that maintained seg- the Senate’s actions with respect to and convincing evidence that the nomi- regated schools, Senator Ashcroft said: confirmation, or to the legitimacy of nee fails to give the assurance to the Virtually none of the offensive activities President Bush and his Department of American people, should he gain the described in what you charged happened in Justice under the leadership of John approval, that he will protect those the state after Brown v. Board of Education. Ashcroft. particular rights and liberties of our As a matter of fact, most of them had been I urge my colleagues to consider citizens. eliminated far before Brown v. Board of Edu- whether in 4 or 5 or 6 years they will be I intend to outline my principal con- cation. happy with and glad to defend a nega- cerns in the time that I have this Secondly, in saying that the city main- morning. tained a segregated school system into the tive vote on this confirmation. I urge ’70s, is simply a way of saying that after them to consider that carefully. Mr. President, two weeks ago the Ju- Brown v. Board of Education when citizens I am very proud to express my strong diciary Committee heard four days of started to flee the city and move to the support for the nomination of John testimony on Senator Ashcroft’s nomi- county . . . the schools, as people changed Ashcroft. He will, in the words of Dan- nation to serve as Attorney General of their location, began to be more intensely iel Patrick Moynihan, make a superb the United States. We heard Senator segregated. That was after the rules of seg- U.S. Attorney General. Ashcroft—as well as those who support regation had been lifted, and it was not a The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- and oppose his nomination—discuss his consequence of any state activity. ator from Massachusetts is recognized. record. Senator Ashcroft’s testimony, at Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, first, I I found the testimony on civil rights, best, ignored the undeniable facts express my appreciation to our chair- women’s rights, gun control, and nomi- about school segregation in St. Louis, man and the members of the Judiciary nations very disturbing. As I said then, ignored court rulings, and was very Committee for the way these hearings Americans must be confident that the misleading. In fact, far from having were held on Senator Ashcroft to be Attorney General and the Justice De- eliminated the ‘‘offensive activities’’ the Attorney General, at that time partment will vigorously enforce our Senator Ashcroft referred to ‘‘far be- chaired by our long-time friend and nation’s most important laws and vig- fore Brown,’’ Missouri was still passing

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:14 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.029 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S847 new segregation laws in the decade be- 1964, ten new schools were opened and In all of the cases where the court made an fore the Brown decision, going as far as were placed so their ‘‘neighborhoods’’ order, I followed the order, both as attorney amending its state constitution to re- would ensure segregated enrollment— general and as governor. It was my judgment quire segregation. all ten opened with between 98.5 per- that when the law was settled and spoken that the law should be obeyed. In his testimony before the Judiciary cent and 100 percent black students. Committee, Senator Ashcroft denied From 1962 to 1975, there were 36 schools One of the simplest and least burden- that the city maintained a segregated opened—35 were at least 93 percent seg- some orders of the court flatly refutes school system into the 1970s. He testi- regated, only 1 was integrated. Senator Ashcroft’s claim. In May 1980, fied that the schools remained seg- Forced busing was also designed to the federal district court ordered the regated only because whites fled the continue segregation. As late as 1973, state to prepare and submit a proposal city. He emphasized that this segrega- 3,700 students were being bused to within 60 days for desegregating the tion ‘‘was not a consequence of any schools outside their neighborhoods to schools. In a telling example of his un- state activity.’’ Again, this statement reduce overcrowding. The vast major- willingness to support any form of de- is seriously misleading in light of the ity of the black students were bused to segregation plan, Attorney General facts and the court rulings. other predominantly black schools, Ashcroft failed to comply with the The record shows that the response while virtually all of the white stu- order. In fact, it wasn’t until December by St. Louis to the Brown decision was dents were sent to other white schools. 1980 that the State responded at all— what the school board called a ‘‘neigh- Only 27 white students were bused to other than filing motions to block the borhood school plan.’’ The plan was de- black schools. order to submit a plan and appealing The court of appeals summed up the signed to maintain the pre-Brown state them all the way to the Supreme continuing legacy of discrimination in of segregation in the St. Louis schools, Court—and the court did not consider 1980, in a case that Attorney General the responses to be a good-faith effort. and that is exactly what it did. Ashcroft had litigated for the state: Reviewing the board’s 1954–56 neigh- In 1981, after several more orders and The dual school system in St. Louis, le- borhood school plan, the 8th circuit deadlines were missed he was finally gally mandated before 1954 and perpetuated threatened with contempt of court for found: by the Board of Education’s 1954–1956 deseg- The boundary lines for the high schools, regation plan, has been maintained and his repeated delays. however, were drawn so as to assign the stu- strengthened by the actions of the Board in Attorney General Ashcroft was not dents living in the predominately black the years since. threatened with contempt because he neighborhoods to the two pre-Brown black All of these numbers and statements objected to the cost of a particular de- high schools. Following implementation of are facts according to the federal segregation plan or because he was ag- the School Board plan, both of these schools courts—from federal court cases that gressively filing appeals. He was opened with 100 percent black enrollments. Attorney General Ashcroft litigated. threatened with contempt for his fail- the elementary school boundaries were also Senator Ashcroft knew these facts. He ure to comply with the court’s 1980 drawn so that the school remained highly order to submit a plan for integrating segregated. knew them in the 1980s when he tried these cases. He knew them in 1984 when the schools. He refused, in effect, to The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals he ran for governor as the candidate even participate in desegregation at went on to make clear that there was who would fight the hardest against in- all. Later, instead of being chastened no justification, other than perpet- tegration. And, most important, he by his brush with contempt for defying uating segregation, for the boundaries knew them when he testified before the the court, he cited it as a badge of chosen: Committee. honor during his 1984 campaign for gov- The Board could have, without sacrificing Senator Ashcroft also gave mis- ernor, as proof of his adamant opposi- the neighborhood concept, drawn the bound- leading testimony about his own ac- tion to desegregation. He publicly aries so as to include significant numbers of tions in fighting school desegregation. bragged that it showed ‘‘he had done white students in the formerly all-black schools. a reading of the record also makes He claims that he has always supported everything in [his] power legally’’ to clear, however, that strong community oppo- integration and supported desegrega- fight the desegregation plan. sition has prevented the Board from inte- tion. But his protracted and tenacious In fact, as the court had stated in its grating the white children of South St. Louis legal fight against desegregation, his 1981 order: with the black children of North St. Louis. failure to make a good faith effort to The foregoing public record reveals ex- The board’s own documents show cooperate with court-ordered desegre- traordinary machinations by the State de- that maintaining the status quo of seg- gation, and his frequent exploitation of fendants in resisting Judge Meredith’s or- regation was the intent of the plan, racial tension over desegregation dur- ders. In these circumstances, the court can draw only one conclusion. The State has, as and that the new attendance zones ing his 1984 campaign for governor sug- gests otherwise. a matter of deliberate policy, decided to defy were drawn to reassign the fewest num- the authority of the court. ber of students possible. Leaving no Over a four year span as Missouri’s Attorney General, Senator Ashcroft In yet in another attempt to claim stone unturned, the board also made fought the desegregation plan all the that his opposition to the desegrega- sure that the staffs of the schools re- way to the Supreme Court three tion plan did not mean he was opposed mained segregated as well. times—and lost his bid for review of to integration, Senator Ashcroft testi- The court went on to make clear the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals deci- fied he opposed the plan because the findings of fact that contrary to Sen- sions each time. As attorney general, State was not a party to the lawsuit ator Ashcroft’s testimony, the board’s he lost definitively in the 8th Circuit in and did not have a fair chance to de- active segregation of the schools did 1980, 1982, and 1984. In the 1984 case, it fend itself. As he stated: not end in the 1950s. In fact, the board took the court 4 pages just to describe Well, you know, if the State hadn’t been actively used a student transfer pro- the myriad suits, motions, and appeals made a party to the litigation and the state gram, forced busing, school site selec- Ashcroft filed. And then he appealed is being asked to do things to remedy the sit- tion and faculty assignments through- that one, too. And during the time that uation, I think it’s important to ask the op- out the 1950s, 1970s and into the 1970s to he was filing repeated legal challenges portunity for the State to have a kind of, maintain the segregated status quo. In to the desegregation plan, Attorney due process and the protection of the law 1962, all 28 of the pre-Brown black General Ashcroft proposed no desegre- that an individual would expect. schools were all or virtually all black, gation plan of his own and strongly re- This claim borders on the bizarre. and 26 still had faculties that were 100 sisted a negotiated settlement for en- The state became a party to the case in percent black. At the same time, the tirely voluntary school transfers that 1977, the very year that Senator pre-Brown white schools that had had been agreed to by the city of St. Ashcroft took office as attorney gen- switched racial identities has switched Louis and St. Louis County. These are eral, and three years before the first their faculties from white to black not the actions of a man who supports 8th Circuit ruling. Throughout his en- also. integration and opposed segregation. tire eight year tenure, Attorney Gen- Choosing sites for new schools could In response to questioning by the Ju- eral Ashcroft litigated this case up and have helped, but instead was also used diciary Committee, Senator Ashcroft down the federal system on behalf of to make the segregation even worse. In made this specific claim: the State of Missouri. To claim that

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:14 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.019 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S848 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 the State was not a party to the litiga- been found guilty of discrimination, number of bills as governor, and frankly, I tion is a disingenuous and transparent and had been found guilty repeatedly. don’t say that I can remember all the details attempt to evade responsibility for his Yet he was still denying responsibility of all of them. Accordingly, I reviewed my actions. before the court in 1984 and it is deeply veto message and recalled that I was urged In some of his court challenges, At- to veto these bills by responsible local elec- troubling that he was denying it before tion officials. I also appeared to anticipate torney General Ashcroft did claim that this committee in 2001. the Supreme Court’s recent decision, as I ex- the State was not a party to the settle- I am also deeply troubled by Senator pressed a concern that voting procedures be ment agreement and should not be re- Ashcroft’s exploitation of the racial unified statewide. quired to implement it. The truth is tensions over desegregation to promote A review of the facts surrounding that the other parties agreed and sub- his campaign for governor in 1984. The Governor Ashcroft’s decision to veto mitted a plan to the court. Attorney St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported at the the voter registration bills raises seri- General Ashcroft had every oppor- time that Senator Ashcroft and his Re- ous questions about whether he truly is tunity to submit his own proposal in publican primary opponent were ‘‘try- ‘‘concerned that all Americans have fact, he was ordered to do so but he re- ing to outdo each other as the most the opportunity to vote.’’ Even the fused. To then claim that he shouldn’t outspoken enemy of school integration equal protection principle recently have to follow the court ordered plan is in St. Louis,’’ and were ‘‘exploiting and stated by the U.S. Supreme Court in tantamount to saying that a guilty encouraging the worst racist senti- the Florida election case cannot be rec- party who doesn’t want to be punished ments that exist in the state.’’ The onciled with Ashcroft’s actions. is somehow beyond the authority of Economist, a conservative magazine, As Governor of Missouri, Senator the court. The defense was rightly re- reported that both candidates ran Ashcroft appointed the local election jected by the district court and the 8th openly bigoted ads and that Ashcroft boards in both St. Louis County and Circuit and the Supreme Court refused called his opponent a ‘‘closet supporter St. Louis City. The county, which sur- to hear it. of racial integration.’’ Even the Daily rounds much of the city, is relatively In his testimony, Senator Ashcroft Dunklin Democrat, a newspaper that affluent. It is 84 percent white, and directly, clearly, and repeatedly said supported Ashcroft’s appeals of the de- votes heavily Republican. The city that he opposed State liability for de- segregation orders, took him to task itself is less affluent, 47 percent black, segregation because the State had for exploiting race in his campaign, and votes heavily Democratic. never been found guilty of the segrega- criticizing the 1984 primary campaign Like other election boards across the tion. In his response to questioning as ‘‘reminiscent of an Alabama pri- State, the St. Louis County Election from Senator LEAHY, he testified: mary in the 1950s.’’ Board had a policy of training volun- I opposed a mandate by the Federal Gov- Ashcroft claimed in the Judiciary teers from nonpartisan groups—such as ernment that the State, which had done Committee that in opposing the deseg- the League of Women Voters—to assist nothing wrong, found guilty of no wrong, regation plan he was merely opposing in voter registration. During Senator that they should be asked to pay this very the cost of the desegregation that was Ashcroft’s service as Governor, the substantial sum of money over a long course being imposed on the state. But accord- of years. And that’s what I opposed. county trained as many as 1,500 such ing to press reports of that campaign, volunteers. But the number of trained This was no slip of the tongue. He re- Ashcroft repeatedly attacked the volunteers in the city was zero—be- peated the denial of responsibility mo- courts and the desegregation plan for cause the city election board appointed ments later, saying: reasons wholly unrelated to cost, even by Governor Ashcroft refused to follow Here the court sought to make the State going as far as calling the desegrega- the policy on volunteers used by his ap- responsible and liable for the payment of these very substantial sums of money, and tion plan an ‘‘outrage against human pointed board in the county and the the State had not been found really guilty of decency’’ and an ‘‘outrage against the rest of the State. anything. children of this state.’’ I believe, in- Concerned about this obvious dis- These two statements, made under stead, that it is the repeated, legally parity, the State legislature passed oath in testimony before the Com- unsupportable, vigorous opposition to bills in 1988 and 1989 to require the city mittee, are flatly wrong and grossly desegregation, that is an outrage election board to implement the same misleading. The St. Louis cases were against human decency and an outrage training policy for volunteers used by certainly long and convoluted, but one against the children of Missouri. the county election board and the rest point is abundantly clear: the courts For these reasons, I have great con- of the State. Despite broad support for held that the State of Missouri was re- cern about Senator Ashcroft’s testi- these bills, on both occasions, Gov- sponsible for the discrimination. The mony and his actions surrounding the ernor Ashcroft vetoed them, leaving in 8th Circuit left no doubt about the entire issue of desegregation. His ac- place a system that clearly made it State’s guilt and liability for segre- tions as Attorney General of Missouri more difficult for St. Louis City resi- gating the schools. As the court said in leave no doubt that at every turn, he dents to register to vote. 1984: chose to wage a non-stop legal war Among the justifications offered by against integration and desegregation, Ashcroft for the vetoes was a concern We, again noted that the State and City Board—already judged violators of the Con- and that he used the full power of his for fraud, even though the Republican stitution—could be required to fund meas- office to do so. director of elections in St. Louis Coun- ures designed to eradicate the remaining The question for Senator Ashcroft, ty was quoted in press reports as say- vestiges of segregation in the city schools, and for senators on both sides of the ing: ‘‘It’s worked well here . . . I don’t including measures which involved the vol- aisle, is how can it mean anything for know why it wouldn’t also work well untary participation of the suburban Senator Ashcroft to say that he will [in the City].’’ schools. enforce the law against discrimination, The issues of fraud and voter reg- This statement by the court high- when this record shows beyond any istration had also been addressed by lights a very important point. The reasonable doubt that he will go to ex- the United States Senate several years court said ‘‘We again noted that the traordinary lengths to deny the facts earlier, which concluded that ‘‘fraud State and City Board—already ad- of discrimination? more often occurred by voting officials judged violators of the constitution’’— Senator Ashcroft’s record and testi- on election day, rather than in the reg- were responsible for desegregating the mony on voter registration legislation istration process.’’ schools. This 1984 decision came four are equally troubling. In response to a In fact, in Missouri in 1989—five years after the original 8th circuit de- question about his decision as Gov- months after Governor Ashcroft’s sec- cision held that the state was in fact ernor of Missouri to veto two bills to ond veto—a clerk on the city of St. responsible for the discrimination. increase voter registration in the city Louis Election Board was indicted for Senator Ashcroft was attorney gen- of St. Louis, which is heavily African voter fraud by Secretary of State Roy eral of Missouri for all of those years American, Senator Ashcroft testified: Blunt. and was campaigning for governor I am concerned that all Americans have Ultimately, the repeated refusal by when the decision was issued. No one the opportunity to vote. I am committed to the St. Louis City Election Board to knew better than he that the state had the integrity of the ballot. . . . I vetoed a train volunteer registrars had a serious

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:14 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.062 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S849 negative impact on voter registration think all Americans can understand, election board in the city of St. Louis rates in the city. During Senator but it was not good enough for Senator chose to maintain inconvenient and ar- Ashcroft’s eight years as Governor, the Ashcroft. As a result of that failure, we tificial registration barriers that had voter registration rate in St. Louis saw a dramatic reduction in voter par- the purpose and effect of depressing City fell from a high of nearly 75 per- ticipation and registration in that participation in the electoral process, cent to 59 percent—a rate lower than community. At a time when the issues particularly by African-Americans. the national average, lower than the of the adequacy of the counting and Senator Ashcroft’s record on desegre- statewide average, and 15 percent lower the sacred right to vote are part of our gation and voter registration are rel- than St. Louis County rate. whole national dialog and debate about evant to his recent visit to Bob Jones The types of barriers to voter reg- how we are going to remedy the ex- University and his interview with istration approved by Governor traordinary injustices that occurred in Southern Partisan magazine. The poli- Ashcroft and his appointed election the last election and in other elections cies of both Bob Jones University and board in the city were explicitly criti- as well, it would seem to me that all Southern Partisan magazine represent cized in the early 1980s by both Demo- citizens want to have confidence in intolerance, bigotry, and a willingness crats and Republicans in the United whomever is going to be Attorney Gen- to twist facts to create a society in States Congress. In October 1984, the eral; that they are going to protect that image. And those are policies that Subcommittee on Civil Rights and their right to vote. all Americans should reject. Constitutional Rights of the House Ju- If you were one of those Americans Displaying an extraordinary lack of sensitivity, Senator Ashcroft claims diciary Committee issued a report with who was disenfranchised in the last na- that he went to Bob Jones University the following finding: tional election and knew this par- and was interviewed by Southern Par- There is no room in our free society for in- ticular record of Mr. Ashcroft—would tisan magazine without knowing the convenient and artificial registration bar- you be wondering whether you could riers designed to impede participation in the policies and beliefs of either. Even if ever get a fair deal? those claims are true, Senator electoral process. . . . [W]e do not quarrel We ought to have an Attorney Gen- with increasing registration outreach and Ashcroft’s comments during the hear- eral in whom all Americans can have expanding the system of deputization [i.e., ing were—at best—disturbing. Senator training volunteers registrars]. confidence that their votes will be Ashcroft condemned slavery and dis- So we had the two vetoes, one where counted and counted fairly. crimination, but his response displayed In 1988, when Governor Ashcroft ve- we had a limited bill that was just tar- a fundamental misunderstanding of geted for the city of St. Louis where toed the first voter registration bill, he how certain institutions in our society they were going to, in effect, have cited two reasons. He said it was unfair perpetuate discrimination. training registrars like they had in the to pass a law requiring the city of St. Senator Ashcroft was unwilling to county. Ashcroft vetoed that bill and Louis—but no other jurisdiction—to say that he would not return to Bob said it was special legislation and, train volunteers to help register vot- Jones University. He believes his pres- therefore, he couldn’t agree to it be- ers. And he said he was urged to veto ence there may have the potential to cause it was just special to a city in the bill by his appointed St. Louis unite Americans. But to millions of Missouri. So he vetoed it. Board of Elections. (Governor’s Veto Americans, such a visit by Senator A year later, the Missouri legislature Message, June 6, 1988.) Yet every other Ashcroft as Attorney General of the passed an overall plan for the whole jurisdiction in Missouri—other than United States would be a painful and state that encouraged the appointment St. Louis City—actively trained out- divisive gesture. of training registrars, so it would have side volunteers. Similarly, on Southern Partisan application to the city of St. Louis. In 1989, the Missouri legislature, in magazine, Senator Ashcroft would only And he vetoed that again. He vetoed it an effort to respond to Governor say that he would ‘‘condemn those because he said it was too broad and Ashcroft’s concerns about unfairness, things which are condemnable.’’ Surely unnecessary. passed a second bill. This time the leg- the man who wants to sit at the head So the result of both of his vetoes islature adopted a uniform registrar of the Department of Justice should was this dramatic adverse impact on training requirement for election say more and do more where bigotry is black voter participation in the city of boards throughout the State of Mis- the issue. On the issue of women’s St. Louis. At the same time that there souri. But Governor Ashcroft vetoed rights, Senator Ashcroft’s record is were 1,500 voting registrars just outside the legislation again claiming that equally troubling. The Supreme of the core city, there were zero voting ‘‘[e]lection authorities are free to par- Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade a quar- registrars in the city of St. Louis as a ticipate with private organizations now ter century ago held that women have result of Senator Ashcroft’s actions in to conduct voter registration.’’ a fundamental constitutional right to the inner city. As a result, there was a Democrats and Republicans alike in decide whether to have an abortion. significant expansion of voter registra- the legislature said if the Governor is The Court went on to say that States tion in Republican areas, in the white going to veto it because it is targeted, may regulate the abortion procedure community, and there was the begin- we will pass one with general applica- after the first trimester of pregnancy ning of the collapse of voter registra- tion. That is what they did, claiming in ways necessary to protect a women’s tion in the black communities. That is that election authorities are free to health. After fetal viability, a State a direct result. participate with private organizations. may prohibit abortions in cases where I will, in just a few moments, show As I mentioned, what is troubling is the procedure is not necessary to pro- this on a chart which vividly reflects there was a second veto by then Gov- tect a woman’s life or health. this in a compelling way. ernor Ashcroft. The veto effectively en- In the years since Roe v. Wade, oppo- The core question at issue in the re- sured that there would not be a ‘‘uni- nents have relentlessly sought to over- cent Florida election case was whether fied statewide’’ procedure—a result turn the decision and restrict a wom- the different county-by-county stand- that directly conflicts with the equal an’s constitutional right to choose. ards in Florida for determining what protection principles announced in the Senator Ashcroft has been one of the chief architects of that strategy. As at- constituted a valid vote were incon- Florida election case and cited by Sen- torney general of Missouri, he told the sistent with the equal protection ator Ashcroft in his testimony to our Senate Judiciary Committee in 1981: clause. Seven members of the U.S. Su- committee. preme Court, relying upon existing The facts are clear. For 8 years as I have devoted considerable time and sig- nificant resources to defending the right of precedent, concluded that the equal Governor, Senator Ashcroft had the op- the State to limit the dangerous impacts of protection clause required the applica- portunity to ensure that citizens of St. Roe, a case in which a handful of men on the tion of a uniform statewide standard Louis city—nearly half of whom are Af- Supreme Court arbitrarily amended the Con- for determining what was a valid vote. rican-American—were afforded the stitution and overturned the laws of 50 states I think it should have been that way same opportunity to register to vote as relating to abortions. by common sense, but here we have the citizens in the rest of Missouri. Instead Senator Ashcroft’s position is clear. overwhelming statement of the law by of working to expand the right to vote, He believes that, except when medi- the Supreme Court. It is something I Governor Ashcroft and his appointed cally necessary to save a woman’s life,

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.022 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S850 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 abortion should never be available, in primary health care that includes unyielding position against reproduc- even in cases involving a victim of rape diagnosis and treatment of human ill- tive rights and accept his new posi- or incest. He has said, ‘‘Throughout my ness, injury or infirmity and adminis- tion—he now views ‘‘Roe v. Wade and life, my personal conviction and public tration of medications under general Planned Parenthood v. Casey as the record is that the unborn child has a rather than direct physician guidance settled law of the land.’’ He will not fundamental individual right to life and supervision.’’ Following this opin- longer work to dismantle Roe, but to which cannot be infringed and should ion, the Missouri State Board of Reg- enforce it, he says. be protected fully by the 14th Amend- istration for the Healing Arts threat- When asked about his efforts to over- ment.’’ While I respect Senator ened the criminal prosecution of two turn Roe v. Wade, Senator Ashcroft Ashcroft’s personal convictions, they nurses and five doctors employed by told the Committee that he ‘‘did things cannot and should not be used as an ex- the East Missouri Action Agency who to define the law by virtue of lawsuits cuse to deprive women of their con- provided family planning services to . . . did things to refine the law when I stitutional right to choose. low-income women. had an enactment role.’’ But as an ex- Nevertheless, Senator Ashcroft has The nurses provided family planning, ample of his view of ‘‘defining’’ and been unrelenting in his efforts to over- obstetrics and gynecology services to ‘‘refining’’ the law, during his 1981 tes- turn Roe v. Wade. While serving as at- the public—including information on timony before the Senate Judiciary torney general and as Governor, Sen- oral contraceptives, condoms and IUDs; Committee as attorney general of Mis- ator Ashcroft constantly sought the initiatives on breast and pelvic exami- souri, Senator Ashcroft testified that passage of State antichoice legislation nations; and testing for sexually-trans- the human life bill—which would pro- and was a principal architect of a con- mitted diseases—through funding for hibit all abortions—could be constitu- tinuing nationwide litigation strategy programs directed to low-income popu- tional within the framework of Roe v. to persuade the Supreme Court to re- lations. The nurses were licensed pro- Wade. It is clear that as Attorney Gen- strict or overturn Roe v. Wade. In 1991, fessionals under Missouri law, and the eral of the United States, Senator as Governor, he even boasted that no doctors issued standing orders for the Ashcroft could easily feel free to define State had more abortion-related cases nurses. All services performed by the and refine Roe v. Wade out of exist- that reached the Supreme Court. nurses were carried out pursuant to ence. As attorney general, Senator those orders or well-established proto- Senator Ashcroft also wants the com- Ashcroft was so intent on restricting a cols for nurses and other paramedical mittee to believe that he won’t ask the woman’s right to choose that he per- personnel. The board, however, threat- Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. sonally argued Planned Parenthood of ened to find the nurses guilty of the Wade. The current Court has made it Western Missouri v. Ashcroft in the unauthorized practice of medicine, and clear that it will not overturn Roe. In United States Supreme Court. In that to find the physicians guilty of aiding that sense, Roe is settled law. But once case, decided in 1983, the Supreme and abetting them. the current composition of the Court Court specifically and clearly rejected, In 1983, more than 3 years after At- changes, however, President Bush and by a 6 to 3 margin, the attempt by the torney General Ashcroft issued his Senator Ashcroft will feel free to take State of Missouri to require all second opinion, the Supreme Court of Missouri steps to overturn Roe. In an interview trimester abortions to be performed in rejected the opinion, finding that noth- on January 20, 2001, President Bush a hospital. The Court did permit, how- ing in the state statutes purported to said; ever, three requirements—that a sec- limit or restrict the nurses’ and doc- Roe v. Wade is not going to be overturned ond physician be present during a post- tors’ practices, and that the nurses ac- by a Constitutional amendment because viability abortion; that a minor obtain tions ‘‘clearly’’ fell within the legisla- there’s not the votes in the House or the either parental consent or a judicial tive standard governing the practice of Senator. I—secondly—I am going to put waiver to have an abortion; and that a nursing. Although the decision ensured judges on the Court who strictly interpret that nurses in Missouri could continue the Constitution, and that will be the litmus pathology report be prepared for each test . . . I’ve always said that Roe v. Wade abortion. to provide family planning services, was—was a judicial reach. In 1986, Governor Ashcroft signed during the almost 3 years that the case If Senator Ashcroft becomes Attor- into law a bill that attempted to over- was pending, Attorney General ney General, he will be well-positioned turn Roe v. Wade by declaring that life Ashcroft’s legally untenable opinion to undermine and eliminate this most begins at conception. The bill also im- placed nurses providing gynecological basic right of privacy for all American posed numerous restrictions on a wom- services, including family planning, in women. President Bush and Senator an’s constitutional right to choose. considerable legal peril. Ashcroft will select judges and justices After signing the bill into law, Gov- Senator Ashcroft’s aggressive and who are prepared to turn back the ernor Ashcroft said, ‘‘the bill makes an vocal opposition to Roe v. Wade contin- clock to a time when women did not important statement of moral prin- ued during his service as a Member of the Senate. He voted in favor of over- have the right to choose. ciple and provides a framework to We know Senator Ashcroft is willing turning Roe v. Wade and sponsored deter abortion wherever possible.’’ to go to the courts time and time again In 1989, the bill was challenged all both a human life amendment to the to challenge settled law. State of Mis- the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in Constitution and parallel legislation. souri v. The National Organization for Webster v. Reproductive Health Serv- The human life amendment would pro- Women is a case in point. In that case, ices. The State of Missouri not only hibit all abortions except that required the organization had called for a boy- asked the Supreme Court to uphold the to prevent the death of the mother— cott of Missouri because of the failure statute, but it also specifically asked but only if every reasonable effort is by the State to ratify the equal rights the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. made to preserve the life of the women amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Wade. The Court refused to overturn and the fetus. The proposed constitu- Senator Ashcroft told the Judiciary Roe. But by a vote of 5–4, the Court tional amendment contains no excep- Committee that the litigation brought upheld some provisions of the statute, tion for rape or incest, and no protec- in Missouri by his office against the including the prohibitions on the use of tions for a woman’s health. Because National Organization for Women was public facilities or personnel to per- the amendment and the proposed stat- well within the law. He said: form abortions. ute define life as beginning at fertiliza- In addition to his attempts to re- We filed the lawsuit, to the best of my tion, its language could also be used to recollection, because the boycott was hurt- strict a woman’s right to choose, Sen- ban any type of contraception which ing the people of Missouri, and we believed it ator Ashcroft as attorney general also prevents a fertilized egg from being im- to be in violation of the antitrust laws. The took direct and improper action that planted in the uterus, including birth lawsuit had nothing to do with the ERA . . . prevented poor women from obtaining control pills and IUDs. or the political differences that I might have gynecological and birth control serv- Two weeks ago, however, Senator had with NOW. ices. As Attorney General, he issued an Ashcroft appeared to experience a con- He went on to say: opinion stating that nurses in Missouri firmation conversion. He asked us to Now, I litigated that matter thoroughly, did ‘‘not have the authority to engage disregard his past record and and frankly, other states attempted it . . . I

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 04:11 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.011 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S851 think the law is clear now and has been clear posed amendment was actually a weak- tended to safeguard liberty forever by in the aftermath of that decision. er version of one proposed by Senator ensuring that the American people That testimony was grossly mis- FEINSTEIN. should never be out-gunned by their leading. At the time he brought the He sought to create a parental con- own government. Ruby Ridge and Waco NOW case, he law was already well-set- sent exception to Senator FEINSTEIN’s are two recent violent episodes in tled in direct opposition to Senator bill, which would have prevented juve- which groups holding these views came Ashcroft’s position. In ruling against niles from obtaining semiautomatic as- into armed conflict with federal law Attorney General Ashcroft, both the sault weapons. At the hearing, Senator enforcement. The Department of Jus- federal district court and the Eighth Ashcroft also testified that the assault tice has the all-important responsi- Circuit Court of Appeals relied upon weapons ban, the Brady law, licensing bility to enforce the laws against such the Supreme Court’s decision in East- and registration of guns, and manda- extremist groups. Yet Senator ern Railroad Presidents Conference v. tory child safety locks are all constitu- Ashcroft’s past rhetoric has supported Noerr Motor Freight, Inc.—a case de- tional. these extremist views and causes le- cided 17 years before Senator Ashcroft Although Senator Ashcroft’s testi- gitimate concern that his views are so brought suit against NOW. The Attor- mony was intended to ease our con- outside the mainstream of American ney General said in that case: cerns about his willingness to enforce thought that as Attorney General he [The Sherman Act] . . . is a code that con- gun control laws, it is difficult to rec- will be unable and unwilling to enforce demns trade restraints, not political activ- oncile what he said last week with his the gun laws and pursue prosecutions ity, and, a publicity campaign to influence rhetoric and his record. Contrary to his against militia groups for violations of governmental action falls clearly into the testimony, Senator Ashcroft has pre- Federal laws. category of political activity. viously stated that individuals have a Although Senator Ashcroft testified Still, Attorney General Ashcroft was virtually unconditional right to bear that he believes in the constitu- not deterred, even though the district arms under the second amendment. In tionality of the assault weapons ban, court and the court of appeals had a 1998 hearing, he commented on court the Brady law, gun licensing and reg- ruled against him, relying upon the decisions, which noted that the second istration, and mandatory child safety clear U.S. Supreme Court precedent. amendment does not guarantee indi- locks on guns, he voted to oppose legis- Senator Ashcroft persisted and asked viduals unrestricted rights to keep and lation in these areas. He voted against the Supreme Court to review the NOW bear arms. Senator Ashcroft expressed the ban on the importation of high am- case. The Court refused even to hear his disagreement with the view accept- munition magazines. He voted against the case. ed by every federal appellate court and closing the gun show loophole. He It is deeply troubling that as attor- the Supreme Court, that the second voted for a measure to impede imple- ney general, Senator Ashcroft used amendment was intended to protect mentation of the National Instant state resources to litigate a weak case state-regulated militias, but does not Check System. He voted twice to weak- that rested on an argument rejected by entitle individuals to possess or use en existing law by removing the back- the Supreme Court years ago. But, as weapons connected with participation ground check requirements on pawn- with the litigation surrounding the in private militias. He criticized these shop redemptions and by allowing deal- voluntary school desegregation plan, court decisions, stating, ‘‘The argu- ers to sell guns at gun shows in any he preferred to fight on in appeal after ment makes no sense to me.’’ At the state. He voted twice against bills to appeal in a losing and illegitimate bat- 1998 hearing, Senator Ashcroft went on require child safety locks, and he voted tle, rather than surrender to justice to say: against regulating firearms sales on and protect the rights of women. Indeed, the second amendment—like the the Internet. Mr. President, just for the informa- First—protects an important individual lib- tion of Members, I have probably 4 or 5 erty that in turn promoted good govern- Senator Ashcroft testified that he ment. A citizenry armed with the right to more minutes. I know other wish to supported funds for gun prosecution possess firearms and to speak freely is less initiatives. However, he has voted to speak. Than I will put the rest of the likely to fall victim to a tyrannical central statement in the RECORD. government than a citizenry that is dis- reduce funding in other areas vital to Mr. President, Senator Ashcroft’s op- armed from criticizing government or de- gun law enforcement. For example, he position to gun control, his interpreta- fending themselves. voted against funding to implement tion of the second amendment, and his Senator Ashcroft’s extreme view of background checks under the Brady advocacy of extremist gun lobby pro- the second amendment parallels his law, named after former Reagan Press posals are also very disturbing. Over rhetoric comparing today’s elected of- Secretary James Brady. Indeed, Sen- 30,000 Americans lose their lives to gun ficials with the despots of the 18th cen- ator Ashcroft has referred to James violence every year, including over tury. The pro-gun Citizens Committee Brady, a brave and patriotic American, 3,000 children and teenagers. Our Na- for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as ‘‘the leading enemy of responsible tion’s level of gun violence is unparal- reported that Senator Ashcroft com- gun owners.’’ When provided the oppor- leled in the rest of the world. In re- pared ‘‘today’s power brokers and pol- tunity to express regret for making sponse to the devastation caused by icy wonks’’ in the Federal Government such an unjustified statement, Senator gun violence, the majority of Ameri- to the ‘‘European despots from whom Ashcroft declined. cans support stricter gun control laws our Founding Fathers fled.’’ He has ex- Senator Ashcroft is also closely tied and vigorous enforcement of the laws plained that individuals should be al- to the gun lobby and he has often ac- now on the books. lowed to ‘‘keep and bear arms’’ because cepted contributions from these orga- Contrary to the majority of the ‘‘I am fearful of a government that nizations and supported their agendas. American public, Senator Ashcroft vig- doesn’t trust the people who elected During the hearing, he told us that orously opposes stricter gun control them.’’ Are we talking about our sys- keeping guns out of the hands of felons laws. He addressed this issue during tem of government? Are we talking is a ‘‘top priority’’ of his. Yet, in 1998, the hearing, where he seemed to about that? this did not seem to be a top priority change his long held beliefs and empha- Unfortunately, Senator Ashcroft’s for him. He supported an NRA-spon- sized his commitment to enforce the rhetoric and record lend undeserved sored ballot initiative that would have gun laws and defend their constitu- credibility and legitimacy to the views allowed almost anyone to carry con- tionality. He testified that ‘‘there are espoused by anti-government militia cealed guns in Missouri. The proposal constitutional inhibitions on the rights groups in our Nation. Members of these was so filled with loopholes that it of citizens to bear certain kinds of groups believe the second amendment would have allowed convicted child arms.’’ Saying he supported some con- gives them the right to form private molesters and stalkers to carry semi- trols, Senator Ashcroft referred to his armies as a check against federal automatic pistols into bars, sports sta- attempt to amend the juvenile justice power. These militia groups point out diums, casinos, and day care centers. bill to make semiautomatic assault that guns are not for hunting or even The proposal was opposed by numerous weapons illegal for children. However, protecting against crime. Rather, they law enforcement groups and many in he neglected to mention that his pro- say, the second amendment was in- the business community. Proponents of

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 04:20 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.012 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S852 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 the measure say Senator Ashcroft vol- trol laws such as the Brady Law, the heard. By contrast, his predecessor unteered his help to support the ref- assault weapons ban, and other stat- Judge Thomas, also an Ashcroft ap- erendum, even recording a radio ad en- utes. It is also important to have an pointee, voted to reverse 47 percent of dorsing the proposal. Senator Ashcroft Attorney General with a responsible the death sentences he reviewed. There stated in response to written questions view of proposed legislation when the is no significant difference between that ‘‘Although [he did] not recall the Department of Justice is asked to com- Judge White’s record on the death pen- specific details, [his] recollection is ment on it. alty and the records of his colleagues that supporters of the referendum ap- Senator Ashcroft’s handling of judi- on the court. proached [him] and asked [him] to cial and executive branch nominations Some law enforcement officials in record the radio spot.’’ The fact re- also raises deep concerns. In four of the Missouri did oppose the White nomina- mains that Senator Ashcroft did sup- most divisive nomination battles in the tion. But many Missouri police offi- port the referendum and did record the Senate in the 6 years he served with us, cials supported Judge White. He had radio spot. Few can doubt that as a Senator Ashcroft was consistently in- the support of the State Fraternal seasoned politician, Senator Ashcroft volved in harsh and vigorous opposi- Order of Police. The head of the FOP made himself fully aware of the con- tion to the confirmation of distin- said, ‘‘The record of Justice White is tents of the referendum before lending guished and well-qualified African one of a jurist whose record on the his name to it. And if he did not, there Americans, an Asian American and a death penalty has been far more sup- is even greater reason to question his gay American. portive of the rights of victims than judgment and suitability for such a When President Clinton nominated the rights of criminals.’’ Judge White high and important position in our fed- Judge Ronnie White of the Missouri was also endorsed by the chief of police eral government. Supreme Court to be a federal district of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Senator Ashcroft championed the court judge, Senator Ashcroft fla- Department. The president of the Mis- NRA’s concealed weapon proposition in grantly distorted the record of the souri Police Chiefs Association de- 1998. But in 1992, while governor of Mis- nominee and attacked him in the scribed Judge White as ‘‘an upright, souri, he had voiced his concerns about strongest terms. He accused Judge fine individual.’’ such a measure. As Governor, he stated White of being ‘‘an activist with a In Senator Ashcroft’s statements on he had ‘‘grave concerns’’ about con- slant toward criminals.’’ He accused the Senate floor on the nomination, he cealed carry laws. He stated, ‘‘Overall, him of being a judge with ‘‘a serious focused on a small number of Judge I don’t know that I would be one to bias against a willingness to impose White’s opinions. A review of Judge want to promote a whole lot of people the death penalty.’’ He accused him of White’s entire record suggests that carrying concealed weapons in this so- seeking ‘‘at every turn’’ to provide op- those cases were taken very much out ciety.’’ He further stated, ‘‘Obviously, portunities for the guilty to ‘‘escape of context. In two of them, there were if it’s something to authorize everyone punishment.’’ He accused him of voting serious questions about the com- to carry concealed weapons, I’d be con- ‘‘to reverse the death sentence in more petency of the defendant’s trial coun- cerned about it.’’ When asked about his cases than any other [Missouri] Su- sel. In the third, there was evidence of change of view in deciding to support preme Court judge.’’ racial bias by the trial judge. Those the 1998 initiative, Senator Ashcroft When questioned about Judge cases were not disagreements about the said he changed his position because of White’s nomination, Senator Ashcroft death penalty. The issue was whether ‘‘Research plus real-world experi- did not retreat from his characteriza- the defendant had received a fair trial. ences.’’ However, Senator Ashcroft’s tion of Judge White’s record, although Judge White’s dissent in one of those research was so flawed that he re- a review clearly demonstrates that cases makes this point in the clearest sponded to written questions that ‘‘[t]o Senator Ashcroft’s charges were base- terms: the extent there were loopholes in Mis- less. This is a very hard case. If Mr. Johnson souri law’’ that would permit convicted Judge White is not an ardent oppo- was in control of his faculties when he went child molesters and stalkers to carry nent of the death penalty. He voted to on this murderous rampage, then he as- concealed weapons, he was ‘‘unaware of uphold death penalty convictions in 41 suredly deserves the death sentence he was those provisions at the time.’’ Later, it cases, and voted to reverse them in given . . . I am not convinced that the per- was reported that the gun lobby spent only 17 cases. His votes in death pen- formance of his counsel did not rob Mr. alty cases were not significantly dif- Johnson of any opportunity he might have $400,000 in support of Senator had to convince the jury that he was not re- Ashcroft’s Senate reelection campaign. ferent from the votes of the other sponsible for his actions. This is an excellent He became ‘‘the unabashed celebrity members of the Missouri Supreme example of why hard cases make bad law. spokesman . . . for the National Rifle Court—judges whom Senator Ashcroft While I share the majority’s horror at this Association’s recent attempts to arm appointed when he was Governor. In carnage, I cannot uphold this as an accept- citizens with concealed weapons in more than half of the 17 cases in which able standard of representation for a defend- Missouri,’’ according to a column by Judge White voted to overturn a death ant accused of capital murder. Laura Scott in the Kansas City Star. sentence, he was voting with the ma- Senator Ashcroft’s statements on the The Citizens’ Committee for the jority—with Ashcroft appointees. White nomination strongly suggest Right to Keep and Bear Arms gave Sen- Seven of these cases were unanimous that Senator Ashcroft has a misguided ator Ashcroft the ‘‘Gun Rights De- decisions. There were only three death view of the role of judges in our con- fender of the Month’’ Award for leading penalty reversals in which Judge White stitutional system. To label a judge the opposition to David Satcher’s nom- was the only judge who voted to over- ‘‘pro-criminal’’ based on isolated opin- ination to be Surgeon General. The turn the conviction. In fact, four of the ions over the course of an entire career group objected to Dr. Satcher because justices whom Senator Ashcroft named is wrong. Judges are obliged to decide he advocated treating gun violence as a to the court have voted to overturn individual cases according to the re- public health problem. more death penalty convictions than quirements of law, including the Con- Based on his close ties to the gun Judge White. That record is not the stitution. Judge White has frequently lobby and his strong support for their record of ‘‘an activist with a slant to- voted to affirm criminal convictions, agenda, it is difficult to have con- ward criminals.’’ including 41 capital cases. The fact fidence that Senator Ashcroft will fully In fact, Judge White’s record in death that he reached a contrary position in and fairly enforce the nation’s gun con- penalty cases shows him to be in the a few cases should not disqualify him trol laws and not seek to weaken them. Missouri mainstream. Four of his col- to be a federal judge. Senator Ashcroft has shown time and leagues who were appointed to the What is most noteworthy about Sen- time again that he supports the gun bench by Governor Ashcroft have voted ator Ashcroft’s attacks on Judge White lobby and opposes needed gun safety to overturn between 22 percent and 25 is the extraordinary degree to which measures. Given the important litiga- percent of the death penalty convic- Senator Ashcroft distorted the record tion in the federal courts, it is impera- tions they considered. Judge White in order to portray Judge White’s con- tive to have an Attorney General who voted to reverse the convictions in 29 firmation as a referendum on the death will strongly enforce current gun con- percent of the death penalty cases he penalty. This is a judge who had voted

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 04:20 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.014 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S853 to uphold more than 70 percent of the the use of AZT to prevent the spread of The case of James Hormel is also es- death penalty convictions he had re- HIV in pregnancy. That meeting re- pecially troubling. When Mr. Hormel viewed. Yet Senator Ashcroft never sulted in the recommendation that was nominated by President Clinton to questioned Judge White about these studies be conducted in developing serve as Ambassador to Luxembourg, issues at the committee hearing on countries to test the effectiveness and Senator Ashcroft and Senator HELMS Judge White’s nomination, and he safety of short-term AZT therapy that were the only two members of the For- never gave Judge White an opportunity could be used in developing countries eign Relations Committee to oppose to explain his reasons for dissenting in and that those studies be placebo-con- the nomination. Although Senator the three cases before unfairly attack- trolled to ensure safety in areas with Ashcroft voted against Mr. Hormel, ing his record. various immune challenges. Approval Senator Ashcroft did not attend the It appears that Senator Ashcroft had was obtained by ethics committees in confirmation hearings, did not submit decided to use the death penalty as an this country and the host countries and written questions, and refused Mr. issue in his campaign for re-election to by the UNAIDS program. The National Hormel’s repeated requests to meet or the Senate, and to make his point, he Institutes of Health and the Centers for speak by phone to discuss the nomina- cruelly distorted the honorable record Disease Control agreed to support the tion. of a distinguished African American studies in order to save lives in devel- In 1998, when asked about his opposi- judge and denied him the position he oping countries. tion to Mr. Hormel’s nomination, Sen- deserved as a federal district court Many leaders in the medical field ator Ashcroft stated that homosex- judge. As I said at the hearing, what supported the studies. Dr. Nancy uality is a sin and that a person’s sex- Senator Ashcroft did to Judge White is Dickey, AMA president-elect at the ual conduct ‘‘is within what could be the ugliest thing that has happened to time, said that the studies in Africa considered and what is eligible for con- a nominee in all my years in the Sen- and Asia were ‘‘scientifically well- sideration.’’ Senator Ashcroft also pub- ate. founded’’ and carried out with ‘‘in- licly stated in 1988 that: ‘‘[Mr. Senator Ashcroft was also asked formed consent.’’ Those who did not Hormel’s] conduct and the way in about the nominations of Bill Lann Lee support the studies still supported Dr. which he would represent the United to serve as Assistant Attorney General Satcher’s nomination. Dr. Sidney States is probably not up to the stand- for Civil Rights, Dr. David Satcher to Wolfe, Director of Public Citizen’s ard that I would expect.’’ Health Research Group, said that while serve as Surgeon General of the United Senator LEAHY asked Senator he had for many months expressed op- States, and James Hormel to serve as Ashcroft at the Judiciary Committee position to the AZT experiments, it U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg. hearings whether he opposed Hormel’s Senator Ashcroft told the committee represented an honest difference of nomination because of Hormel’s sexual opinion with Satcher. He said he fully that he could not support Mr. Lee be- orientation. Senator Ashcroft re- supports the nomination. ‘‘I think he’d cause he had ‘‘serious concerns about sponded ‘‘I did not.’’ Instead, Senator make an excellent surgeon general,’’ his willingness to enforce the Adarand Ashcroft claimed that he had ‘‘known Wolfe said. ‘‘I have known him and I decision’’ on affirmative action. In Mr. Hormel for a long time’’—Mr. admire him.’’ truth, however, Mr. Lee’s position on Senator Ashcroft also mis-character- Hormel had been a dean of students at affirmative action was well within the ized Dr. Satcher’s role in the survey of the University of Chicago law school mainstream of the law, and he repeat- HIV child-bearing women. In 1995, when Senator Ashcroft was a student edly told the committee that he would seven years after the survey began dur- there in the 1960s. Senator Ashcroft re- follow the Supreme Court’s ruling in ing the Reagan administration, Dr. peatedly testified that he based his op- the Adarand case. As Senator LEAHY Satcher, as acting CDC director, and position to Mr. Hormel on the ‘‘total- said during the Ashcroft confirmation Dr. Phil Lee, former Assistant Sec- ity of the record.’’ hearings. retary for Health, halted the HIV sur- Mr. Hormel was so troubled by Sen- Mr. Lee testified on a number of occa- vey. They did so because of a combina- ator Ashcroft’s testimony that he sions—in fact, testified under oath, includ- tion of better treatment options for wrote to the committee and said the ing, incidentally, directly in answer to your children with HIV, the discovery of a following: questions, that he would enforce the law as I want to state unequivocally and for the declared in Adarand. And he also said, in di- therapeutic regimen to reduce mother- to-infant HIV transmission, and a record that there is no personal or profes- rect answer to questions of this committee, sional relationship between me and Mr. he considered the Adarand decision of the greater ability to monitor HIV trends Ashcroft which could possibly support such a Supreme Court as the controlling legal au- in women of childbearing age in other statement. The letter continued, I have had thority of the land, that he would seek to en- ways. no contact with him [Ashcroft] of any type force it, he would give it full effect... The HIV tests had begun in 1988, five since I left my position as Dean of Students Similarly, Senator Ashcroft said he years before Dr. Satcher joined the . . . nearly thirty-four years ago, in 1967 . . . did not support Dr. Satcher to be Sur- CDC. The tests were supported by pub- For Mr. Ashcroft to state that he was able to geon General because he: lic health leaders at every level of gov- assess my qualifications . . . based upon his Supported a number of activities that I ernment as a way to monitor the HIV/ personal long-time relationship with me is thought were inconsistent with the ethical AIDS epidemic. These surveys were de- misleading, erroneous, and disingenuous . . . obligations of a medical doctor and a physi- I find it personally offensive that Mr. signed to provide information about Ashcroft, under oath and in response to your cian, particularly the surgeon the level of HIV in a given community general...for example he supported an direct questions, would choose to misstate without individual information. The the nature of our relationship, insinuate ob- AIDS study on pregnant women in Africa Survey of Child-Bearing Women was where some patients were given placebos, jective grounds for voting against me, and even though a treatment existed to limit one of the HIV surveys conducted deny that his personal viewpoint about my transmission of AIDS from the mother to the under the program. It was funded by sexual orientation played any role in his ac- child...I, secondly, believed his willing- the CDC and conducted by the states. tions. ness to send AIDS-infected babies home with Forty-five states, including Missouri We should all be deeply concerned their mothers without telling their mothers while Senator Ashcroft was Governor, about Senator Ashcroft’s willingness to about the infection of the children was an- participated in the survey and re- mislead the Judiciary Committee other ethical problem that was very serious. quested and received federal funds from about his reasons for opposing the In fact, at the time of the debate on the CDC to conduct it. The survey was Hormel nomination. As the St. Louis the Satcher nomination in 1997, ap- important to public health officials at Post-Dispatch noted on January 22, proximately 1,000 babies were born the time, because it was the only unbi- 2001. ‘‘[T]he most disturbing part of Mr. with HIV every day. Most of the births ased way to provide a valid estimate of Ashcroft’s testimony was the way in were in developing countries, where the the number of women with HIV and which he misstated important parts of U.S.-accepted regimen of AZT treat- their demographic distribution. Dr. his record.’’ ment is not practical because of safety Satcher’s participation in the survey In conclusion, the Attorney General and cost concerns. In 1994, the World was justified, and it was not a valid of the United States leads the 85,000 Health Organization had called a meet- reason for Senator Ashcroft to deny men and women who enforce the na- ing of international experts to review him confirmation as Surgeon General. tion’s laws in every community in the

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 04:20 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.016 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S854 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 country. The Attorney General is the pro-choice or if they are anti-gun, then them in these press conferences behind the nation’s chief law enforcement officer they can be. attempt to kill the Ashcroft nomination. and a symbol of the nation’s commit- I again remind my colleagues that You can’t say it any better than ment to justice. Americans from every the vote on Janet Reno was 98–0. Most that. People should be ashamed of walk of life deserve to have trust in of us on this side of the aisle would themselves. Who did our side oppose on him to be fair and just in his words and agree that her views and ours were a Cabinet appointment in the Clinton in his actions. He has vast powers to quite different, but we supported her administration? They all were ap- enforce the laws and set priorities for nomination because the President of proved by voice vote, with the excep- law enforcement in ways that are fair the United States has a right to pick tion of Janet Reno. That was 98–0. or unfair—just or unjust. his or her Cabinet. That is a fact. The activist Democrats shooting at John When a President nominates a person I will respond directly to this anti- Ashcroft in his bid to become America’s next to serve in his Cabinet, the presump- Catholic charge. It is so outrageous, I Attorney General have revealed the ugliness tion is rightly in favor of the nominee. don’t know how people can look in the about themselves, not the nominee. But Senator Ashcroft has a long and mirror, to be candid about it, and do So said Betsy Hart of Scripps How- detailed record of relentless opposition this kind of personal destruction. ard. That is the truth. There is the ug- on fundamental issues of civil rights Let me read from a copy of a letter I liness. It is not John Ashcroft. John and other basic rights of vital impor- just received from Senator KENNEDY’s Ashcroft sat on that committee on a tance to all the people of America, and own cardinal, Cardinal Law. I will read panel and took those questions and the people of this country deserve bet- it into the RECORD: took that abuse. He was decent, re- ter than that. Americans are entitled DEAR SENATOR ASHCROFT: Let me begin by spectful, honorable, gracious, and took to an Attorney General who will vigor- expressing my deep dismay at the unfounded it all. ously fight to uphold the law and pro- and scurrilous charge that you could pos- He is above them all. He showed it on tect our constitutional rights. Based sibly harbor anti-Catholic feelings. I was as- national television. He is above them tounded to hear that anyone was making on a detailed review of his long record such a ridiculous accusation. all. His critics couldn’t tie his shoe in public service, Senator Ashcroft is From any time as Bishop of Springfield/ laces or even shine his boots. not that man. I urge the Senate to vote Cape Girardeau until today, I have always Betsy Hart also said: no on this nomination. found you to be a man of honor, integrity Apparently these folks are so comfortable Mr. President, since I see a number of and deep faith. I recall with great fondness with using cabinet offices to create law in- my colleagues, I will take the oppor- the many opportunities we had to work to- stead of to enforce existing laws and so con- tunity, when there is a pause in the gether on many issues affecting the lives of tent to see judges write new law instead of Senate, to complete my statement. At the good people of the State of Missouri. In interpret existing law, they can’t fathom a this time, I yield the floor. a particular way, I recall how kind and responsible officeholder who will honor the thoughtful you were to invite me to address The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. rule of law. The Governor’s Annual Prayer Breakfast on You cannot say it any better than BURNS). The Senator from New Hamp- January 9, 1992 when you were serving as the shire. Governor of Missouri. On that same day you that, if you are prepared for 10 years. Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. also honored me with an invitation to ad- That sums it up in a nutshell. They are President, I consider it an honor and dress The Governor’s Leadership Forum on so used to using these positions to cre- privilege to stand here today in sup- Faith and Values. College students, then and ate law, they can’t believe a person port of the nomination of John now, are beneficiaries of your generous love such as John Ashcroft, who will say to Ashcroft to be Attorney General of the and concern for them and their futures. I do you: I worked as hard as I could as a United States. Contrary to some of the not recall that you made any distinctions be- Member of the Senate to create laws tween black and white, Protestant, Catholic for what I believe in. So does every- rhetoric we have been hearing from the or Jew in your desire to instill in them a other side, everybody in this institu- love for their faith, their families and one body else on the left, and you have tion knows he is one of the finest peo- another as brothers and sisters in the human every right to do that. But there is a ple who ever served here. He is a man family. difference between that John Ashcroft of great religious faith, a moral man. Let me assure you, John, of my prayers. and the John Ashcroft, however reluc- Yet as we listen to this debate, if it Asking God to bless you, Janet, the chil- tant he may be, who will step up to the wasn’t for the fact that it was so per- dren and all whom you hold dear and with plate as the Attorney General of the warm personal regards. I am United States and enforce the law— sonally destructive and so vindictive, Sincerely yours in Christ, yes, even the laws he doesn’t like. His it would be humorous. BERNARD F. LAW, We have a man who served 6 years in Archbishop of Boston. record proves he did it over and over and over and over and over again. the Senate, served two terms as Gov- Mr. President, there are a long line of There is not one shred of evidence to ernor, two terms as attorney general of people on the basis of their position on indicate that he didn’t do it. the State of Missouri. Yet to hear the life who couldn’t be Attorney General. I am sick and tired of the hypocrisy debate, he is anti-child, anti-woman, We could start with Jesus Christ him- in this place. Much was made about an- anti-black, anti-gay, anti-Catholic. self. We could also add to that list the other issue; when you start getting What else can possibly be said? Pope, Mother Teresa, all the cardinals into the racial charges, that hits right One thing we can certainly be as- in the United States. We are going to below the belt. I am going to answer it. sured of—the left knows how to play have to eliminate a whole lot of people. It deserves to be answered. Is there politics. They do it well, and I com- It is so outrageous and, frankly, pa- anybody in here whose spouse taught mend them for it. Unfortunately, thetic, it really exposes the left for for several years at a predominantly though, sometimes in politics, one de- what they are. stroys unfairly the reputations of peo- It exposes the left for what they are. black school? Is that racist? In the ple who don’t deserve it. That is what Let me read part of a comment made news today is speculation that his No. offends me the most. I will not use the by Bill Bennett: 2 person may, in fact, be black. So what. The most qualified person should term ‘‘anger,’’ but it does offend me What you are seeing is the true face of the that this kind of personal destruction Democratic Party. What you are seeing is be who he picks. Then the issue of de- has to be used. them saying to a man ‘‘you are perfectly de- segregation in the St. Louis matter be- I recall the comments earlier in the cent, everything you have done is within the fore the Governor and the attorney debate today of Senator LEAHY when law, you haven’t harbored any illegal aliens, general. During that suit, the job of he said there are 280 million Americans you have never left the scene of a crime, you the attorney general and the Governor with divergent ethnic backgrounds and led an exemplary life, but we don’t approve was to support the State’s position, to political views. Out of that 280 million of your views. You dare to say you are pro- defend the State. It wasn’t about seg- Americans, according to the left, if life, you dare to say you are opposed to re- regation. It was about taxes. It was verse discrimination and for that you will there are any of those 280 million pay. For that we will make this experience about busing. It was a very controver- Americans who are conservative and something you will never forget.’’ I hope sial issue. Those who opposed busing or happen to be pro-life or pro-gun, they they do it. I hope the American people watch imposing taxes by the courts on the can’t be Attorney General. If they are it. If you want to see the haters, you’ll see citizens were not racists.

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 04:20 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31JA6.018 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S855 Anyone who implies that is flat out Presidency and had the right to pick was about a judge who some of us wrong. If John Ashcroft is guilty of his Attorney General. That is the situ- thought—55 of us, as a matter of fact— segregation because he defended the ation right now. George Bush is the thought shouldn’t be on the court be- State, then why is Jay Nixon, who is President, and he has the right to pick. cause of his views on crime. the attorney general, himself, not If you think John Ashcroft is not going I urge my colleagues to rethink their guilty of the same thing? Why is it to enforce the law, then say so. If you positions and understand it is impor- that two prominent Members of this think he is a racist, say so. But there tant that we understand that a Presi- body—I will introduce this into the is not one shred of evidence that indi- dent should pick his nominee and that RECORD—Senator KENNEDY and Senator cates otherwise. this nominee is a fine man—one of the HARKIN—invite you to a breakfast ‘‘to This business about Ronnie White is finest who ever served here. He should meet and support Missouri Senate can- so outrageous that it really just defies be confirmed, and I hope he will be con- didate, Attorney General Jay Nixon, logic to talk about it. firmed, as the next Attorney General. Tuesday, March 31, 1998, at The Mon- The National Sheriffs’ Association I yield the floor. ocle for a contribution of $5,000 or fin- wrote a letter, and I ask unanimous The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- ish your max-out?’’ He did the same consent that the letter be printed in ator from Maryland. Ms. MIKULSKI. Thank you very thing as Ashcroft did. And it is hypoc- the RECORD. There being no objection, the letter much. risy to stand here and say this to de- Mr. President, as we consider the stroy the reputation of one of the fin- was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: nomination of John Ashcroft for Attor- est people who ever served here. ney General, I would like to com- Mr. President, I ask unanimous con- NATIONAL SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATION, Alexandria, VA, January 11, 2001. pliment the Judiciary Committee on sent that this announcement be print- their process and deliberation in bring- ed in the RECORD. Hon. BOB SMITH, Dirksen Senate Office Building, ing this nomination to the floor. There being no objection, the mate- On my side of the aisle, I would like rial was ordered to be printed in the Washington, DC. DEAR SENATOR SMITH: On behalf of the Na- to be particularly complimentary of RECORD, as follows: tional Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), I am the leadership provided by Senator SENATOR TED KENNEDY & writing to offer our strong support for the PATRICK LEAHY and, of course, the SENATOR TOM HARKIN nomination of Attorney General Designate work done by Senator ORRIN HATCH. I INTITE YOU FOR BREAKFAST TO MEET AND John Ashcroft. As the voice of elected law believe the deliberations were fair, rig- SUPPORT enforcement, we are proud to lend our sup- port to his nomination and look forward to orous, thorough, and conducted in a MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE his confirmation by the Senate. tone that was really becoming of the ATTORNEY GENERAL JAY NIXON As you know, NSA is a non-profit profes- U.S. Senate. I would like to congratu- TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 1998 sional association located in Alexandria, late my colleagues on that. THE MONOCLE Virginia. NSA represents nearly 3,100 elected As I consider the nomination of all 8:30 AM–9:30 AM sheriffs across the Nation and has more than the Cabinet members, particularly this 20,000 members including deputy sheriffs, one, I want to speak first about the RSVP to Jill Gimmel—202–546–9494 other law enforcement professionals, stu- or Don Erback—202–546–9292 statement that said a President is enti- dents and others. tled to his nominees. The nominations Contribution: $5,000 or Finish Your Max-Out NSA has been a long time supporter of to head up the executive branch are Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Kay John Ashcroft and in 1996, he received our prestigious President’s Award. After review- not entitlement programs. There is James said it about as well as you can ing Senator Ashcroft’s record of service, as it nothing entitlement about it. In fact, say it. ‘‘Religious profiling,’’ that is relates to law enforcement, we have deter- we were given a constitutional man- what it is. You can’t be a man of faith mined that he will make an outstanding At- date to examine each and every nomi- or a woman of faith. You can’t be that. torney General and he is eminently qualified nee and to give our advice and consent You can’t have views that differ with to lead the Department of Justice. NSA feels to the President of the United States. the left. Otherwise, you can’t serve. that Senator Ashcroft will be an outstanding The founding fathers were very clear That is it. Attorney General for law enforcement and the U.S. Senate should confirm him. that the Senate should not be a rubber Bipartisanship? I will tell you how I look forward to working with you to en- stamp in terms of a Presidential set of far it reaches when we agree with that. sure that the U.S. Senate confirms Attorney nominees. The President is entitled to That is when we get bipartisanship. General Designate Ashcroft. fair consideration of those nominees, They never come over to agree with us. Sincrely, but not for us to be a rubber stamp. That is what this debate is about. It is JERRY ‘‘PEANUTS’’ GAINS, On each and every one of those nomi- about the continuation of the election. President. nees, I have given my independent The election is over. Hello, the election Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. The judgment and have voted for most of is over, folks. National Sheriffs’ Association wrote a President Bush’s nominations because The President of the United States letter on behalf of John Ashcroft for I think they meet three tests: Com- should pick his Cabinet. That is the Attorney General. petency, integrity, and a commitment right thing to do, and every one of you On this business about Ronnie White, to the mission of the agency. knows it. To get into this character as- the truth of the matter is the indi- President Bush in his inaugural ad- sassination of racism, anti-Catholic, vidual accused of that crime, Mr. John- dress pledged to ‘‘work to build a single antigay, anti-this, anti-that—there is son, went on a 24-hour crime spree, nation of justice and opportunity.’’ Yet not a shred of evidence about John killed three sheriffs, killing the wife of one of his first acts was to choose John Ashcroft that would indicate that, and another one at a party during the Ashcroft to lead the Department of you ought to examine your conscience Christmas holidays, and he was given Justice, someone who has had an ex- before you vote. all kinds of legal defenses. Ronnie treme ideological agenda on civil John Ashcroft is well qualified to be White argued that Johnson’s defense rights, on a woman’s right to choose, Attorney General, maybe one of the team, a group of three private attor- on gun control, his positions are far most qualified ever to even be put up neys with extensive trial experience, outside the mainstream. Often, his for nomination. had provided ineffective assistance. rhetoric has been harsh and wounding. During the debate on Janet Reno, I Fine; he has a right to do that. Ronnie As attorney general and Governor of recall her views against the death pen- White was a judge. He had a right to Missouri; he pushed systematically and alty. I happen to support the death say this guy deserves some more help. regularly for the disempowerment of penalty. I voted for Reno because Reno But he also has to expect that if you people of color and the said she would enforce the law, and if make those kinds of decisions, some- disempowerment of women to have ac- the law of the land is the death pen- body may hold that against you when cess to health services related to their alty, she said she would enforce it. you go up for another judgeship some- own reproduction. That is fine. where. Can anyone be surprised that this Do I agree with everything Janet That is all it was. That is what that nomination is divisive? This is not a Reno did? No. Bill Clinton won the was about. It wasn’t about racism; it time in our history for further division.

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.032 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S856 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 My wonderful colleague from New When I looked at John Ashcroft and ing hate crime laws? Will he rec- Hampshire left the floor. I want to say his record as attorney general and as ommend that the President expand something. I don’t have a litmus test Governor, I was deeply troubled. What them? on nominations. I don’t have a single I was troubled about was how he en- The Justice Department is called issue by which I judge any and of all forced issues, his record on civil rights, upon to enforce other laws. One of the the nominees. He raised the issue, and on a woman’s right to choose, on en- big flashing yellow lights is racial appropriately, that if you are not pro- forcing the laws. profiling. By the way, the former Gov- choice, can you be confirmed in the On civil rights, the Attorney General ernor of New Jersey was called into Senate, or can you get Democratic of the United States decides how vigor- question about the way she enforced votes? The answer is yes, and right ously we enforce existing civil rights racial profiling, but I voted for her to here. laws. The Civil Rights Division mon- be EPA Administrator because that is I will give you an example. Governor itors and ensures that school districts not the issue in being an EPA Adminis- Thompson has now been appointed our comply with desegregation. Yet as at- trator. Again, no litmus test and no Secretary of HHS. I am pro-choice. torney general, John Ashcroft strenu- listening to the so-called left-wing Governor Thompson is not. I did not ously opposed a voluntary court-or- groups they talk about. Please let’s hesitate to vote for Governor Thomp- dered desegregation plan agreed to by end this demeaning of groups. son because I looked at the pattern of all parties. He even tried to block this The NAACP, People for the American the way he governed. He is a champion after a Federal court found that the Way, the ACLU, these are part of of welfare rights and truly a compas- State was acting unconstitutionally America. Senator Ashcroft could have sionate conservative—one of the first and then went on to vilify the court for acted in racial profiling, but he held it to have a State version of a woman’s their position. up in committee. He was quite passive. health agenda, a real commitment to One of the fundamental civil rights is Is he going to be passive when it comes dealing with the tragedy of long-term the right to vote. Didn’t we just go to this as Attorney General? I wonder. care and extra support to care givers. through that in the most closely con- Then we have activism. Bill Lann This is a Cabinet member I want to tested election? Every vote does count, Lee was nominated for the Assistant work with in constructive dialog. and everybody who can should be reg- Secretary for Civil Rights—a compel- I had no litmus test. I don’t believe istered. Yet as Governor, he vetoed the ling story, a man of great talent, a my colleagues do. I believe among our Voter Registration Reform Act which man who worked his way up, not un- own side of the aisle there are people would have significantly increased mi- like some of the nominees given to us about which it is not whether you are nority voter registration and was en- by President Bush, such as Mr. Mar- pro-choice or pro-life, it is, are you tinez, Ms. Chao, whose stories are com- dorsed by such groups as the League of committed to some of the central val- pelling. Bill Lann Lee had a compelling Women Voters. I believe there has been ues of our society? story, but he also had one other thing a persistent pattern of opposing oppor- Do you believe America is a mosaic, on his resume. He happened to have that all people come with different her- tunity in the areas of civil rights. On the protection of rights of individ- been a civil rights lawyer for the itages and different beliefs and have a NAACP. This made him, in the right to equal opportunity and justice uals, the right to choose, the Attorney General has great power to undermine Ashcroft analysis, a radical activist. under the law? Do you believe the so- What is wrong with being a lawyer for existing laws and the constitutional cial glue is access to courts that you the NAACP? I thought Thurgood Mar- protection of a woman’s right to believe are fundamentally fair. Do you shall once had that job—not a bad choose. As attorney general, John believe that an Attorney General’s Of- place to earn your spurs. But, oh, no. fice at the State or Federal level will Ashcroft used his office to limit wom- So what is it that John Ashcroft is embrace the fundamental principles of en’s access to health care, particularly going to look for in his Assistant Sec- our U.S. Government? That is our cri- reproductive health care, filing an ami- retary for Civil Rights? Passivity? teria. cus brief in a case that sought to pre- Let’s get somebody passive? I don’t When I looked at the nomination of vent nurses from providing routine think so, because it really goes against John Ashcroft, I had to say, Is he com- GYN services and also giving out on a what we require in that job, because in petent? Yes. You can’t dispute that. voluntary basis usual and customary that job you have to be proactive. His whole education and record—yes, methods of contraceptives, saying they I don’t believe John Ashcroft is a rac- he is competent. On integrity? Until were practicing medicine. What they ist. I also don’t believe he is anti- the confirmation hearing, I believed were doing was practicing public Catholic. I believe those rhetorical him to be a man of great integrity. I health. charges were not only exaggerated but had no doubt. But all of a sudden, there Based on his record and other state- I truly believe they are unfounded. At were two John Ashcrofts. The pre- ments, I can only conclude that John the same time, he does have a record of hearing John Ashcroft who was Attor- Ashcroft would use his position to un- insensitivity. I look at that pattern ney General, as Governor of Missouri, dermine existing laws, including the where he routinely blocked the nomi- here on the Senate floor had one set of constitutional protection of a woman’s nation of women and minorities; he op- beliefs. I respect those beliefs. People right to choose and access to reproduc- posed 12 judicial nominees, 8 of whom are entitled to their beliefs. But all of tive health services, after these serv- were women and minorities. a sudden in the confirmation hearing, ices have already been affirmed by law Others have spoken about his posi- his beliefs no longer mattered to him. and the Supreme Court. tion on gun control. As a fervent oppo- If you fundamentally opposed, as he Sexual orientation. The Attorney nent of even the most basic gun control did, issues of civil rights, the access of General is charged with enforcing anti- measures, how can we expect him to women to have reproductive services, discrimination laws, which include pro- vigorously enforce the gun safety laws how is it you could have such pas- tections for homosexuals. Yet John that are already on the books? sionate beliefs one day and then say Ashcroft opposed the nomination of Let me conclude. The President does they didn’t matter, you would put James Hormel to be Ambassador to have the right to name his Cabinet, but them on the shelf? Luxemburg simply because he is gay. the Senate has the constitutional re- I respect the passion Senator Now, hello, what does that mean would quirement to give advice and consent Ashcroft has of his beliefs. Though he happen in his own department? Will on these nominations. My advice to is entitled to his beliefs, I don’t believe this be an issue with his own hiring at President Bush is: I am sorry you gave his beliefs entitle him to be Attorney the Department of Justice? us such a divisive nominee. Other General of the United States. I don’t The Justice Department advises the nominees are excellent. Others I will know how you can believe something President on proposed legislation; for look forward to working with, and to so passionately one day and then say example, hate crimes prevention, an- starting a constructive dialog with. I you will put them on the shelf. Beliefs other part of the social glue of Amer- am so sorry this happened. I am sorry are not something like the surplus that ica. John Ashcroft voted against this it happened to John Ashcroft. If John you can put in a lockbox. Beliefs can- legislation. How does he feel about Ashcroft had been nominated for Sec- not be put in a lockbox. hate crimes now? Will he enforce exist- retary of Agriculture, I would have

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.035 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S857 probably voted for him. But I cannot about Mrs. CARNAHAN. So I think when in which criminal conduct becomes vote for him to be Attorney General he was ultimately defeated, his magna- part of an association. That happens because I do believe that beliefs matter nimity in defeat also showed that he is when you have Internet chatrooms. and the beliefs that you show over a a person of character first—character Internet chatrooms often cause people record of a lifetime show the true way above public servant, character above to start thinking they want to meet, you will conduct your office. Beliefs partisan, character above everything and that has facilitated criminal acts are not in a lockbox. else. He showed it at a time when he when it has not been monitored cor- I cannot consent to the nomination had nothing to gain, when he thought rectly. So to try to discourage it, we of John Ashcroft. I urge my colleagues he probably would not be in public of- made that against the law. to join me in opposing this nomination. fice again. But he did what was right John also played a role in allowing I also urge my colleagues, let us not from his heart. That is why I am sup- hourly wage workers, particularly have demeaning rhetoric on the floor porting him for Attorney General of working mothers, to have flextime in or try to demonize either a group or a the United States. the workplace so they could take off at nominee. He also brings an impressive aca- 3 o’clock on Friday afternoon and I yield the floor. demic background to this office. He is make up for it on Monday by working The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- a graduate of the University of Chicago 2 extra hours so they could see their ator from Illinois. School of Law. He attended Yale Uni- child’s football game or soccer game. Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am versity. These are things that are very impor- prepared to speak at this moment. If I also want to mention, because I tant in John’s background. there is a Republican Senator on the think she is very much a part of this He also voted to prohibit anyone con- floor, I will be happy to yield time so team, his wife Janet and their joint victed of domestic violence from own- we take turns. commitment to education in our coun- Mr. HATCH. If the Senator will wait, ing a firearm. This is very important try. When she moved up here with Sen- to try to curb domestic violence in our I understand Senator KAY BAILEY ator Ashcroft, she decided she wanted country. HUTCHISON is coming over. Here she is to teach. She chose to teach at Howard now. I appreciate that courtesy. I think we need to bring John’s full The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- University, one of our Nation’s histori- record to the forefront in order to ator from Texas. cally black colleges. Howard Univer- make the decision on whether he would Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I sity is where she has taught for 5 years. be fit to serve as Attorney General. thank the distinguished chairman of I think she has shown her commitment Almost everyone in this body sup- the Judiciary Committee for having to education by going the extra mile to ported every Clinton appointee to the this nomination go forward and for giv- share her experiences and her knowl- Cabinet. That has been the tradition in ing us the opportunity to talk. I think edge with the students at Howard Uni- the Senate. Very few times do we deny the debate is very important. I think it versity. Janet, by the way, is also a the right of the President to have his is important that we talk about the lawyer. own Cabinet and the people he trusts John Ashcroft we know because when I I am very proud to support both and wants to work with around him. I hear some of the other people talking Janet and John Ashcroft. think it would be a major step in the about John Ashcroft, it is not the same We have heard a lot of John wrong direction to not affirm the ap- person with whom I served for 6 years. Ashcroft’s record, things which he said pointment of John Ashcroft. I also I would like to set the record straight which have also been refuted. In my ex- think it will be a major setback if John on a couple of points. perience with John Ashcroft, he was Ashcroft is the victim of scurrilous I have known John and Janet the cosponsor of my legislation to statements that will keep him from Ashcroft since long before they came eliminate the marriage tax penalty, having the ability to do his job and the to the Senate because he was a leader which has the effect of taxing so many mantle to do his job. for his State and our country for many couples just because they get married— So I hope my colleagues will show years before he represented his State in not because they make higher salaries discretion. I hope they will understand the Senate. He has been a Governor. He individually but because they get mar- that John Ashcroft is likely to be con- has been elected chairman of the Na- ried—and throwing them into a higher firmed. So if they have something to tional Governors’ Association. He has bracket. John did not just cosponsor say against him, it is their absolute been the attorney general for the State the bill and walk away; he fought with right to do it, but I hope they stick to of Missouri. And he served as chairman me on the floor, day after day, week the facts and give their views in a way of the Attorneys General Association after week. We passed marriage pen- that will not hurt John Ashcroft’s abil- of the United States. So he has been in alty relief. It was because John ity to do the important job of enforcing a position of leadership for our country Ashcroft worked as hard as I did to the laws of this country. many times. make that happen. It was vetoed by the When John Ashcroft becomes Attor- I think he is the most qualified per- President. But eventually we are going ney General, he will no longer be an ad- son to have been nominated for Attor- to pass marriage penalty relief in this vocate for laws; he will be the enforcer ney General in many years. He has country, and the President is going to of laws. He has said on many occasions served in the capacity of attorney gen- sign it, and people will not have to pay that he will enforce those laws to the eral as well as Governor and in the U.S. the average $1,400 a year just because letter because he sees that as his job. Senate. of their married status. Furthermore, he has shown by his The people of America saw the true John did this because he believes in record as attorney general of Missouri heart of John Ashcroft when his oppo- family values and he believes marriage that he will do that. He deserves not nent, Mel Carnahan, died near the end is one of the ways people can live a only our support now but also our sup- of their race for the Senate. I was there good life. Statistics show that married port after he gets the job to make sure for John Ashcroft after that tragic ac- people are the least likely to be on wel- the laws of our country are fairly and cident. I think John Ashcroft did not fare or to get into any kind of criminal reasonably enforced and targeted to know what to do, just like everyone trouble. I think we should be encour- people who break those laws. else. He had no intention of cam- aging marriage, not discouraging it. The rhetoric, if it gets too hot, is paigning against a man who had just John Ashcroft agrees with that. going to auger against his ability to do died, a man who had also served the He worked with me on reauthorizing the job that all of us need for him to do State of Missouri so well. He had no in- the Violence Against Women Act. We and want him to do. tention of campaigning against his introduced legislation to amend cur- I thank the Chair. I thank Senator widow when she made the decision that rent stalking laws to make it a crime HATCH and Senator DURBIN. I yield the she would take the appointment of the to stalk someone across State lines. floor. Governor if Mr. Carnahan won the elec- Also, cyberstalking has become a more The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator tion. common crime in recent years, as the from Illinois. John Ashcroft kept his word. He kept use of the Internet has increased. Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Chair. Mr. his word and has never uttered a word Young people are lured into a situation President, I thank the Senator from

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.037 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S858 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 Texas for her kind words. I will be On January 23, Ms. James replied to I say to those who raise the question happy to yield to the chairman of the my letter. This is basically what she about whether the Judiciary Com- committee, Senator HATCH, so we can said: mittee or any committee is being fair continue this dialog about this impor- On Thursday, I testified that ‘‘several to President Bush by having a thor- tant nomination. members of the Senate have questioned ough investigation of John Ashcroft or While in my office, I listened to one whether or not a man of strong personal any other nominee, I think the agenda of my colleagues on the Republican faith and conviction can set aside his per- for considering these nominees is not side earlier in the debate raise the sonal beliefs and serve as the Attorney Gen- the creation of any Senator, nor cer- question whether the opposition to eral for all citizens.’’ You ask me to identify tainly of the Democratic side in the John Ashcroft was really based on his these several senators. As I told you after the hearing, this summary came directly Senate. It is the creation of the Found- religious belief. I think that is an ex- from Senator Ashcroft’s testimony on Janu- ing Fathers in article II, section 2, of traordinarily serious charge to make. ary 16th. the Constitution where they gave to I am a member of the Senate Judici- the Senate the power to advise and ary Committee. Together with my And then she relates the transcript of the session which reads as follows: consent to the President’s nominees. staff, we have worked for the last sev- The critics of this process ignore our Senator LEAHY asked of Senator eral weeks analyzing the public record sworn responsibility to defend the Con- Ashcroft: and public career of John Ashcroft. I stitution. Alexander Hamilton, writing am aware of his religious affiliation be- Have you heard any senator, Republican or in Federalist Paper No. 76 on ‘‘The Ap- cause he made a point of stating with Democrat, suggest that there should be a re- ligious test on your confirmation? pointing Power of the Executive’’ pride his religious affiliation during wrote this of the advice and consent the course of the hearing. I can tell you John Ashcroft: provision which brings us to the floor quite candidly that I do not know a No Senator has said ‘‘I will test you.’’ But today: a number of senators have said, ‘‘Will your single precept or tenet of his religious It is not easy to conceive a plan better cal- religion keep you from being able to perform faith, nor did I take the time to ask. culated than this to promote a judicious your duties in office?’’ That is totally irrelevant. In fact, if choice of men for filling the offices of the someone tried to raise that during the Senator LEAHY went on to say: Union.... course of this debate, I would be the All right, well, I’m amazed at that. Please forgive Alexander Hamilton first to defend John Ashcroft’s right to And that was the end of the transcript. for just referring to men, but that was Ms. James goes on to say: practice the religion of his conscience. the style of the day. I would certainly I do not know anything about his re- As we further discussed, I think when you expand on Alexander Hamilton’s senti- ligion, nor have I based any of my deci- put it into the context of substituting an- ment to include women, but otherwise other qualifier for ‘‘religion’’ that the offen- sions on his nomination on that fact. siveness of such thinking is apparent. I find I agree wholeheartedly. There was and As I said during the course of the hear- this as troubling as asking whether being a is enormous wisdom in the constitu- ing, he has said—and it has been a mat- ‘‘woman’’ or being an ‘‘African-American’’ tional provision to provide to the legis- ter of some amusement—that he does would prevent someone from doing a job. lative branch, in this case the Senate, not drink or dance. But I will tell you I believe that is a fair characteriza- the ability to exercise oversight of the I do not know whether Janet Reno tion of her reply. We still do not know nominations made by the President. drinks or dances, nor do I think it is the name of any Senator who raised ei- The Founding Fathers believed, and I important to the job of Attorney Gen- ther personally or privately to Senator think they were right, that the power eral. Ashcroft or certainly publicly any to appoint people to high office in the During the course of the hearings, question about his fitness for office United States should not be vested in the Republicans brought forward a lady based on his religious belief. I do not the hands of a single individual. The President deserves clear and by the name of Kay Coles James who know the religions of any of the nomi- broad latitude in making the appoint- works for the Heritage Foundation. nees to President Bush’s Cabinet, nor ments of his choice, but just as clearly, After her testimony, I had a conversa- do I think it is an important question. the Senate has a responsibility to en- tion with her on two different occa- What we have focused on during the sure that these appointments will serve sions. At the end of the second con- course of this investigation of John expertly, broadly, and fairly in a man- versation, she said: You and I agree on Ashcroft is his public career, his public ner that will benefit all Americans, and a lot more than we disagree when it record. There have been those who al- the Senate has the power to, if nec- comes to religion in public life. I liked ways want to say: What about his pri- her. essary, reject the nomination. vate life? His private life should be pri- My colleague, Senator FEINGOLD, in She said something in her testimony vate. It is his life and his family’s life. on this same issue that caused me his statement yesterday before the I have resisted any efforts by critics of committee, noted that this is a rare great concern. At one point she said John Ashcroft to even follow that line John Ashcroft was a victim of ‘‘reli- situation when the Senate rejects a of questioning. It is irrelevant, unim- nomination, but I will tell you, during gious profiling.’’ That was her term. It portant. is not in her written statement, but it the course of our Nation’s history, What is important is what he has there have been literally hundreds of is what she said before the Senate Ju- stood for publicly, what it tells us diciary Committee. names withdrawn when it was clear about his view of politics and policy they would not pass with approval be- In her written statement and re- and the kind of job he would do if he is peated at the hearing, she said: fore the Senate. confirmed as Attorney General. Alexander Hamilton thought such re- Unfortunately that faith Senator I considered John Ashcroft and his Ashcroft’s faith—has been dragged into the jections would occur rarely and only public debate and has been used to call into public record and my dealings with him when there were ‘‘special and strong question his fitness for public service. Sen- as a fellow Senator over 4 years, and I reasons for the refusal.’’ I believe we ator Ashcroft’s opponents have veered peril- came to the conclusion that I cannot have before us one of those rare in- ously close to implying that a person of support his nomination as Attorney stances that Hamilton foresaw. There strong religious beliefs cannot be trusted General. exists today just such ‘‘special and with this office. I listened to his testimony before the strong reasons’’ to reject the nomina- As a result of that statement in the committee, and I heard him say so fre- tion of John Ashcroft to the position of hearing, I called Ms. James over after- quently that public positions on issues Attorney General. I would like to out- wards and said: I am going to ask you which he had held for his adult life line my reasons that necessitated my very specifically tomorrow to name the would, frankly, not encumber him as vote against his nomination. Senators who have crossed this line Attorney General. I cannot really base During his testimony, Senator and raised questions about John my vote on John Ashcroft on what he Ashcroft did a masterful job of paint- Ashcroft’s religious belief. I did not has claimed he will do in the future ing a portrait of his vision of the job of have time the second day when the when his public record is so clear and Attorney General. He described himself panel returned. I sent a letter to her in in many ways so inconsistent with as a man who would evenhandedly en- writing. what he said to the committee. force and defend the laws of the land no

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.040 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S859 matter how strong his personal dis- For the record, Mr. Hormel’s lifestyle and raised several children, including agreement with those laws, but his is that he is an openly gay man. Bill Lann Lee. public career paints a much different I know the appointment of any Am- His mother is with him. His father picture. bassador is important. Certainly, the passed away. He said his mother used When I look at the public record of appointment to a nation such as Lux- to sit in the window of the laundry John Ashcroft and compare it, point by embourg, which has been a friend of every day at her sewing machine. His point, with his testimony, I find I am the United States for a long time, is father was busy in the back ironing looking at two completely different important. But to single out James and preparing the laundry. Bill Lann portrayals, two completely different Hormel because he is an openly gay Lee said that they worked every day— people. During the hearings, Senator man, and to oppose his nomination be- hard-working people—raising a family. Ashcroft promised fairness in setting cause of that, I think, is not fair. When World War II broke out, Bill the agenda for the Department of Jus- Senator Ashcroft said he opposed Mr. Lann Lee’s father was old enough to es- tice and vowed to protect vulnerable Hormel’s nomination based on the ‘‘to- cape or avoid the draft, but he volun- people whose causes he has seldom, if tality of the record.’’ When he was teered because he was proud of this ever, championed in his public life. asked by Senator LEAHY if he opposed country and he was willing to serve. Which picture tells the story? If John Mr. Hormel because he was gay, Sen- Bill Lann Lee also told us that his fa- Ashcroft were to become Attorney ator Ashcroft denied that. He said: ‘‘I ther refused to ever teach him how to General, would it be John Ashcroft, the did not.’’ run the laundry. He told him, from the defender of a woman’s constitutional Senator Ashcroft had very little con- beginning: This is not your life. You right to choose, or John Ashcroft, pas- tact with Mr. Hormel before his nomi- will have a different life. We will work sionate opponent of Roe v. Wade? John nation. He refused to meet with Mr. hard here. You are going to do some- Ashcroft, the defender of sensible gun Hormel after he was nominated despite thing different. And, boy, was he right, safety laws, or John Ashcroft, who op- Mr. Hormel’s request. because Bill Lann Lee applied for a posed every significant gun safety At a recent press conference, Mr. scholarship to one of the Ivy League measure that came before the Senate Hormel had this to say. I will quote schools. He received a scholarship and during his tenure? John Ashcroft, as him: went on and graduated from law defender of civil rights, or John I can only conclude that Mr. Ashcroft school. Ashcroft, who, as Governor of Missouri, chose to vote against me solely because I am He then went to work for the opposed a voluntary—I repeat, vol- a gay man. NAACP. He really dedicated his profes- untary—school desegregation plan and He had concluded that his sexual ori- sional life not to making money as a efforts to register minorities to vote. entation was the cause of Senator lawyer but to fighting for tolerance We all heard Senator Ashcroft’s tes- Ashcroft’s opposition ‘‘not only from against discrimination. timony, but his public record speaks his refusal to raise any specific objec- He was a quiet man, a humble man; with clarity and consistency. tion to my nomination, but also from but when it came to the cause of civil Let us consider the question of dis- Mr. Ashcroft’s public comments at the rights, he clearly believed in it. For crimination against a person because time of my nomination and his own that reason, he faced withering criti- of their sexual orientation. Consider long record of resistance to acknowl- cism from the Senate Judiciary Com- whether those with a different sexual edging the rights of all citizens, regard- mittee. In fact, Senator Ashcroft open- orientation who were victims of a hate less of their sexual orientation.’’ ly opposed his nomination. crime could expect the protection of I have before me a letter dated De- When Bill Lann Lee was asked about John Ashcroft’s Department of Justice. cember 3, 1997, from James Hormel, of a specific Supreme Court case, and I cannot speak for all of America— San Francisco, CA, to Senator Ashcroft whether he would enforce it, Bill Lann maybe only a small part of it—but I at the Hart Senate Office Building. He Lee, under oath, said: Yes, I will en- think, regardless of your view towards wrote: force it. Senator Ashcroft rejected that sexual orientation, the vast majority sworn statement. He said, in opposing I am aware that you voted against my of Americans oppose discrimination nomination, when it was considered by the Bill Lann Lee, that Bill Lann Lee was against anyone because of their sexual Foreign Relations Committee, and under- an ‘‘advocate’’ and was ‘‘willing to pur- orientation. The vast majority of stand that you may have concerns about my sue an objective . . . with the kind of Americans think it is fundamentally qualifications. I want you to know that I am intensity that belongs to advocacy, but unfair to be intolerant of people with a available to meet with you at your conven- not with the kind of balance that be- different sexual persuasion. ience in either Washington or Missouri, to longs to administration.’’ Recently at Georgetown University, address and—I trust—allay your concerns. Obviously, Senator Ashcroft felt that Professor Paul Offner stated that in a Senator Ashcroft never agreed to advocacy and effective administration 1985 job interview, then-Governor such a meeting. do not mix. ‘‘He has obviously incred- Ashcroft asked him pointblank about Could we expect Attorney General ibly strong capacities to be an advo- his sexual orientation. Mr. Offner re- Ashcroft to defend tomorrow’s Mat- cate,’’ Ashcroft said of Bill Lann Lee. lated that the Governor asked him: thew Shepard if he can’t show toler- ‘‘But I think his pursuit of specific ob- ‘‘Do you have the same sexual pref- ance for today’s James Hormel? jectives that are important to him erence as most men?’’ Senator The second issue that is of impor- limit his capacity to have a balanced Ashcroft, through his spokespeople, tance to me relates to an outstanding view of making judgments that will be has denied this. In fact, they brought individual who came before the Senate necessary for the person who runs that witnesses to say that it did not happen. Judiciary Committee when I served on division.’’ Perhaps the story would be nothing that committee 2 years ago. His name I was saddened by the treatment of more than the typical Washington was Bill Lann Lee. He was being con- Bill Lann Lee by the Senate Judiciary version of ‘‘yes, you did; and, no, I sidered as an Assistant Attorney Gen- Committee and Senator Ashcroft. This didn’t,’’ were it not for the matter of eral for Civil Rights. Senator Ashcroft good man—this great American story— Senator Ashcroft’s troubling record on joined in an effort to block his nomina- was subjected to what I considered an the issue of tolerance for people of dif- tion. unfair standard by the man who now ferent sexual orientations. I remember this because I remember wants to be our Attorney General, who Senator Ashcroft opposed the nomi- what Bill Lann Lee told about his life’s now wants to be entrusted with en- nation of James Hormel as Ambassador story. Maybe I am particularly vulner- forcement of civil rights laws. to Luxembourg because Mr. Hormel, in able when I hear these stories, but they But this was not the only nominee Senator Ashcroft’s words, ‘‘... has mean so much to me, when a person that Senator Ashcroft zeroed in on; an- been a leader in promoting a lifestyle such as Bill Lann Lee comes and tells other was Judge Margaret Morrow of .... And the kind of leadership he’s us about the fact that his mother and California. He joined in blocking her exhibited there is likely to be offensive father were immigrants from China to nomination for a lengthy period of to . . . individuals in the setting to the United States. They came to New time with a little Senate device known which he will be assigned.’’ York City and started a small laundry, as a ‘‘secret hold,’’ where you hold up a

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 04:20 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.042 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S860 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 nominee and you never disclose that ated with that school. As you know from a would voluntarily desegregate schools you are the person holding it. Eventu- long friendship with my family—and our own and give children an opportunity for a ally, he admitted he was the person meeting last year—this criticism is unfair good education. We have heard during holding Margaret Morrow back from and unfounded. Such opinions are personally the course of the committee hearing, offensive to me and I want to erase any her appointment to the Federal bench. doubts about my views and values. we heard again on the floor of the Sen- Was Margaret Morrow qualified to be On reflection, I should have been more ate, John Ashcroft used every tool in a Federal district court judge? Witness clear in disassociating myself from anti- his tool box to try to stop this vol- after witness said she was. They all Catholic sentiments and racial prejudice. It untary desegregation plan. Frankly, said she had extraordinary qualifica- was a missed opportunity causing needless that is a poor reflection on what John tions. She was the first woman to be offense, which I deeply regret. Ashcroft would do as Attorney Gen- president of the California State Bar I accept President Bush at his word. eral. Association. But she didn’t meet Mr. I believe he was embarrassed when he He labeled the efforts of the Federal Ashcroft’s test. Because of that, she reflected on some of the statements courts to desegregate Missouri’s waited years before this Senate before that have been made at Bob Jones Uni- schools as a ‘‘testament to tyranny.’’ she had a chance to serve in the State versity: Their ban on interracial dating Again, Governor Ashcroft missed an of California. among students; some of the cruel important opportunity to bridge the The reason why Senator Ashcroft op- statements made about people of the racial divide. posed her? She was an advocate in his Catholic and Mormon religions; of Then he had two bipartisan bills pre- mind. Should I accept that John course, their decision, when a gay sented to him as Governor to expand Ashcroft, himself, an impassioned ad- alumnus said he was going to revisit voting rights in the city of St. Louis, vocate for his entire political life, will his campus at Bob Jones University, which is predominantly African Amer- surrender his advocacy in the role of and they stated publicly if he came on ican. He vetoed the first saying: It Attorney General? He certainly didn’t campus, they would have him arrested doesn’t help St. Louis. It should be a accept those arguments from Bill Lann for trespassing. I can understand the broader based and statewide bill. Lee and Margaret Murrow when they embarrassment of people as they re- The next year, the General Assembly raised their hand to give the same oath flect on those sorts of statements. But of Missouri sent him the broader based he did. I cannot understand, after President statewide bill. He vetoed that as well, If we apply the Ashcroft standard to Bush has made this acknowledgment, saying: This is too broad based and too his own nomination, would he have a that when John Ashcroft had the same general. chance of being confirmed in the Sen- opportunity before the Senate Judici- I think it is pretty clear that he was ate? Fairness requires more than a ary Committee, he didn’t take that op- intent on not expanding an oppor- simple test as to whether a nominee portunity. He offered no apologies for tunity for voter registration and ef- has advocated views with which we dis- his appearance at Bob Jones Univer- forts for people to involve themselves agree. Fairness requires that we judge sity. in the voting process. What possible as- on balance whether that nominee can I said: If you become Attorney Gen- surance could we have from his record credibly set aside those views and be eral, would you return to Bob Jones that Attorney General John Ashcroft evenhanded. University? He wouldn’t rule that out. would dedicate himself to eliminating At this moment in our Nation’s his- He said: If I go back, I might talk to racial prejudice in America? tory, our need for that type of leader- them about some of the things they The next issue which I take with ship is compelling. We are a politically have said and what they stand for. John Ashcroft is one which was prob- divided Nation with one of the closest I am sorry. I view that particular epi- ably the most important to me. On the elections in modern memory. Land- sode as troubling. It has little to do, if day that President Bush nominated mark civil rights and human rights anything to do, with religion and more John Ashcroft, the leading radio sta- laws hang in the balance. We need an to do with tolerance. If elected officials tion in St. Louis, KMOX, called me and Attorney General who will be fair and don’t take care as to where they speak asked for a comment. I told them that impartial in administering justice. and what they say, what comfort and before I could vote for John Ashcroft, I No issue in the United States is more encouragement they give to others, had to have answers to several ques- divisive than civil rights or more in then I think we are derelict in our pub- tions. First and foremost was the need of enlightened leadership. Yet lic responsibilities. treatment of Judge Ronnie White. Of throughout his career, Senator I think President Bush learned an course, that is something I will speak Ashcroft repeatedly turned down op- important lesson. It is hard to imagine to and an issue that came up time and portunities to reach out across the ra- that his choice for Attorney General of again during the course of the hear- cial divide. There was, of course, a lot the United States couldn’t learn the ings. of attention given to the fact that Sen- same lesson from him, couldn’t say be- Within an hour or two, John Ashcroft ator Ashcroft appeared at Bob Jones fore this committee exactly what called me after I made this radio state- University, received an honorary de- President Bush said to the late Car- ment and said: I want to talk to you. I gree, and delivered the commencement dinal O’Connor, but he did not. need your vote. address. It did deserve attention. It be- On the issue of school desegregation, I said: Senator, I will be happy to came an issue in the last Presidential my colleague, Senator KENNEDY, laid meet with you any time and discuss campaign. out the issue quite clearly before the this, but let me make it clear, the first After President Bush appeared there Senate within the last hour or two in question I will have to you is about during the course of his campaign, he the course of the debate. I grew up in what happened to Judge Ronnie White, was so troubled by the public reaction East St. Louis, IL, across the river when he had an opportunity to become to his appearance at Bob Jones Univer- from St. Louis. I associated myself a Federal district court judge and you sity that he sent a letter to the late more with St. Louis than most other blocked that opportunity. Cardinal O’Connor in New York assur- cities as a child. I know, having grown He said: That is fine. We will have to ing the cardinal that he did not agree up in that area on both sides of the get together. with the prejudicial statements of Mr. river, that there have always been ra- I said: My door is open. Jones and regretted that he did not dis- cial problems, sometimes bitter and John Ashcroft never called for such a tance himself from them. violent, and sad situations arising be- meeting. I asked several questions of Let me quote a few words from cause of it. Senator Ashcroft at the hearing about George Bush’s letter to Cardinal O’Con- When there was an effort made in the White nomination. I listened care- nor in reflecting on his appearance be- Missouri to deal with segregated fully to the testimony of Judge White fore Bob Jones University, a letter of schools, there was a voluntary desegre- himself. I understand why Senator February 25, 2000: gation plan that was agreed to by the Ashcroft did not ask for a meeting. Some have taken—and mistaken—this students and their parents, by the ad- The story of Judge Ronnie White is visit as a sign that I approve of the anti- ministrators and the teachers, people one that bears repeating. This is not Catholic and racially divisive views associ- living in the community, of how they just another nominee for Federal

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.044 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S861 court. There are some fine men and leagues on the Republican side, and feel just as passionately on one side or women who have been nominated and said that Judge Ronnie White was pro- the other side of the issue. It worries confirmed. Let me tell you a little bit criminal. He cited several decisions some that he would be entrusted with about Judge Ronnie White. made by the judge and said that they the authority and responsibility to pro- He was the first African American were ample evidence that this man did tect a woman’s right to choose and city counselor in the city of St. Louis. not have appropriate sensitivity to be- what he would do with it. He tried to That, in and of itself, does not sound come a Federal judge with a lifetime set the issue aside in his opening state- very impressive, but when Judge White appointment when it came to enforcing ment by saying he accepts Roe v. Wade explained his childhood growing up in our laws. Judge Ronnie White’s name and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, two one of the poorest sections of St. Louis, was then called for a vote. Supreme Court cases, in Ashcroft’s in one of the poorest homes and strug- It was defeated on a partisan vote. words, as the ‘‘settled law of the land.’’ gling throughout his life to earn an Every Republican voted against it. That, of course, raises questions. If it education and to go to law school—he This is rare in the history of the Sen- is the settled law of the land, what will was bused as a young student to one of ate. It doesn’t happen very often. Our he do in enforcing it? these newly integrated schools. He re- review said it hadn’t happened for 40 One of the things that troubles me— called other children throwing food and years, that a nominee was brought to and Senator MIKULSKI of Maryland milk at him and the other African the floor, subjected to that kind of pub- raised this earlier—was the decision American students coming off the bus. lic criticism, and defeated. John Ashcroft made as attorney gen- Life was not easy. He wasn’t looking Frankly, it wasn’t necessary. If John eral of Missouri when there was an ef- for sympathy. He was looking for a Ashcroft had decided that he wanted to fort to have nurses provide women’s chance, and he got the chance. He went stop Ronnie White, there were a vari- health services in one of the poorest to law school, became the first African ety of ways for him to do it, quietly medically underserved sections of Mis- American city counselor in St. Louis. and bloodlessly. But he didn’t choose souri. John Ashcroft attempted to block He became the first African American those options. He chose instead to at- the nurses. He joined in filing a lawsuit in Missouri history to be appointed to tack this man and to attack him on against the nurses at their women’s the appellate court of the State, and he the floor of the Senate. health clinic. These nurses were pro- became the first African American in When we were interrogating John viding gynecological services, includ- the history of the State to serve on the Ashcroft about his criticisms, he said, ing oral contraceptives, condoms, and Missouri Supreme Court. the law enforcement groups are the IUDs, Pap smears, and testing for vene- If you visit St. Louis, you can’t miss ones who really told me that Ronnie real disease. He joined in suing these the arch. That is really the thing you White was not a good choice. nurses to stop them from providing think of right away. But within the It is true that there was a local sher- vital reproductive health services to shadow of the arch is a building which iff, whose family had been involved in a low-income women in his home State. is historically so important to that murder in a case where Judge Ronnie As Governor in 1986, Senator city, State, and to our Nation. It is the White had handed down a dissenting Ashcroft signed a bill that defined life St. Louis courthouse. It is a white, opinion, who sent a letter to John as beginning at fertilization, providing stone building, very close to the Mis- Ashcroft saying they objected to him. a legal basis to ban some of the most sissippi River. The reason why this That is true. But it is also true that common and effective methods of con- building is so historically significant is the largest law enforcement commu- traception. In 1998 and 1999, Senator that it was in this courthouse that the nity in the State of Missouri, the Fra- Ashcroft wrote letters to Senator BEN Dred Scott case was argued and tried ternal Order of Police, endorsed Ronnie NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL opposing a Sen- twice. It was on the steps of this court- White, and that the vast majority of ate amendment to require the FEHBP, house before the Civil War that African law enforcement officials in that State the federal health insurance plan, to Americans were sold as slaves. endorsed Ronnie White for this Federal cover the cost of FDA-approved contra- When Ronnie White was appointed to district courtship. ceptives, citing concerns that funding the Missouri Supreme Court, he chose Sadly, he was defeated and, in the certain contraceptives was equivalent that old courthouse in St. Louis to process, I am afraid, faced the kind of to funding abortifacients. take his oath of office. The St. Louis humiliation which no one should ever Nearly forty million women in Amer- Post Dispatch, in commenting on that have to face—certainly not on the floor ica use some form of contraception. setting and his selection as the first of the Senate. Would Attorney General John Ashcroft African American to the Missouri Su- I am troubled by John Ashcroft’s work to protect their right of privacy preme Court, said: willingness to distort a good judge’s and their right to choose the medical It is one of those moments when justice record beyond all recognition, to at- services best for them and their fami- has come to pass. tack his character and integrity and to lies? It certainly was. And as you listen to deliver this unjust condemnation on On the question of the ‘‘settled law of Judge White’s testimony, you under- the floor of the Senate without ever the land’’—Roe and Casey—we have stand that this wasn’t a matter of pride giving Judge White an opportunity to had this contentious debate on the for his family in being nominated to respond and defend his name. floor of the Senate for years about a the Federal district court. It wasn’t When Judge White appeared before partial-birth abortion ban. Many of us just a matter of pride for his colleagues the Judiciary Committee, it was clear have said we can agree to a ban so long on the Missouri Supreme Court. It had to many of us that he deserved an apol- as it not only protects the life of the to be a source of great pride for thou- ogy for what had happened to him. mother but women who face grave sands of African Americans to see this Why is this important in choosing a health risks. Those who introduced the man overcome such great odds to fi- man to be Attorney General of the amendment—Senator SANTORUM of nally get a chance to serve on the Fed- United States? When given the power Pennsylvania and others—have refused eral district court. as a Senator, I don’t believe that John to include that second phrase ‘‘health He never had that chance. The reason Ashcroft used it appropriately. The vic- risk’’ as part of the bill. Recently, in a he didn’t have that chance was that tim was a very good man. Supreme Court case, they considered a after 2 years of having his nomination There have been a lot of questions Nebraska partial-birth abortion ban, pending before this Senate, after being asked about the issue of reproductive and the Supreme Court concluded that approved twice by the Senate Judiciary rights of women and what the new At- unless you protect the health of the Committee, after finally finding his torney General, John Ashcroft, would mother, protecting the mother’s life is name on the calendar of the Senate to do with that authority. I know John not enough on a partial-birth abortion be voted on to become a Federal dis- Ashcroft’s position. I respect him for ban. They cited as the reason for it the trict court judge, John Ashcroft de- the intensity of his belief in opposing same Casey decision which Senator cided to kill his nomination. Roe v. Wade for his entire public ca- Ashcroft described as the ‘‘settled law And he did it. He did it. He came to reer. There are people in my State of of the land’’ to make certain that it the floor, after speaking to his col- Illinois and his State of Missouri who was clear.

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.047 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S862 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 Senator SCHUMER of New York and I Ashcroft rise to this awesome and How long will the Senator from asked Senator Ashcroft as Attorney often unpopular standard as our Attor- Michigan speak? General, if the Santorum partial-birth ney General? Mr. LEVIN. Perhaps 15 minutes. abortion ban comes to him by either We recently celebrated again the Mr. LEAHY. If I might, the agree- the President asking whether he should birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ment the distinguished Senator from veto it or Senator Ashcroft as Attor- It was a huge gathering in the city of Utah and I had—obviously an informal ney General trying to decide whether Chicago. Mayor Daley has an annual agreement—was that following the nor- to defend it, and it does not include the breakfast. I attended another breakfast mal procedure in such a debate, we protection of a woman’s health, what sponsored by Rev. Jesse Jackson. Lit- would be going from side to side. The will he do. The answer to me seems erally thousands of people came out to distinguished Senator from Illinois has fairly obvious. If the Casey decision is pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, just spoken; the distinguished Senator the settled law of the land, he would Jr. I am old enough to remember when from Alabama was going to speak. The have to say the SANTORUM bill we con- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was alive, normal rotation would go back to this sidered before the Senate is unconsti- and I can recall in the midsixties that side, and it would be the distinguished tutional, inappropriate, and incon- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s visit to senior Senator from Michigan. That is sistent with Supreme Court decisions. the city of Chicago was not welcome. without time agreements for any Sen- That seems obvious to me. He announced he was coming to Chi- ator. Senator Ashcroft would not answer cago to march in the streets of Cicero Mr. REID. If the Senator from Ala- the question. and other neighborhoods to protest ra- bama will yield. The clarity of his statement, his cial segregation. Many people—Demo- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- opening statement, disappeared. His crats, Republicans, and independents ator from Nevada. answers were tentative and, unfortu- alike—were saying: Why is he doing Mr. REID. As I said this morning, we nately, very unsettling. The Attorney this? Why is he stirring things up? want to try to wrap up this debate in General must diligently protect wom- It is easy today to forget how un- the near future. I know how fervently en’s rights in America—rights repeat- popular Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Senator from Alabama feels about edly confirmed in the Supreme Court. was with the majority of Americans this issue, but I do say every time Senator Ashcroft’s public record and during his life. It was only after his as- someone says something, we are not his testimony before the Judiciary sassination and our reflection on the going to finish this debate. The Sen- Committee leave that in doubt. contribution he made to America that ator from Alabama has already spoken Senator Ashcroft has made troubling, the vast majority of Americans now very eloquently—which was referred to at times shocking statements regard- understand that although he was un- this morning by Senator NICKLES, ing the lynchpin of our American sys- popular, he was right. Dr. Martin Lu- about what a great statement he made, tem of justice, the judicial branch of ther King, Jr.’s life, fighting for civil and I heard part of his statement, and government. He is fond of the phrase rights, tells an important story. When it was extremely good. ‘‘judicial despotism’’ and even used you are fighting for the rights of those My point is, if the people on the this as the title of a speech he gave be- discriminated against because of sex- other side of the aisle want us to finish fore the Heritage Foundation. In it he ual orientation, when you are fighting this debate sometime tomorrow, we are vows to ‘‘fight the judicial despotism for the rights of women, poor women in going to have to be cut a little bit of that stands like a behemoth . . .’’ over particular, when you are fighting for slack and be able to proceed with our our great land. He tells us that ‘‘peo- the rights of African Americans and statements. Otherwise, we are going to ple’s lives and fortunes’’ have been ‘‘re- Hispanics, it is often unpopular. But it go over until next week. Mr. SESSIONS. I understand that is linquished to renegade judges,’’ judges is the right thing to do. the labels ‘‘a robed, contemptuous in- The Attorney General, more than the position of the other side, that tellectual elite.’’ He speaks of Amer- any other Cabinet officer, is entrusted they would like this side to hush and ica’s courts as ‘‘out of control’’ and the with protecting the civil rights of have their full say all day. I see the Senator from Virginia is ‘‘home to a ‘let-them-eat-cake elite’ Americans. We know from our history, here. I yield to the Senator from Vir- who hold the people in the deepest dis- defending those rights can be con- dain.’’ ginia such time as he desires. troversial. I find no evidence in the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Senator Ashcroft went on to say: public career of the voting record of ‘‘Five ruffians in robes’’ on the Su- ator from Michigan. Ashcroft that he has ever risked any Mr. LEVIN. If I could enter into a preme Court ‘‘stole the right of self-de- political capital to defend the rights of unanimous consent request sequencing termination from the people’’ and have those who suffer in our society from the next two Senators: The Senator even directly ‘‘challenged God. . . .’’ So prejudice and discrimination. from Virginia be recognized, and after grievous are the actions of the Federal As I said in the committee yesterday, the Senator from Virginia has finished, Judiciary, according to Senator it is a difficult duty to sit in judgment then I be recognized, which is a modi- Ashcroft, ‘‘the precious jewel of liberty of a former colleague, but our Nation fication of a previous unanimous con- has been lost.’’ and our Constitution ask no less of These statements come from a speech sent. each Member of the Senate. That is The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Senator Ashcroft gave on judicial des- why I will vote no on the nomination objection, it is so ordered. potism. I suggest to my colleagues who of John Ashcroft to serve as Attorney Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am have not read it that they do. Is this a General. happy to accommodate the leadership person with such a deep mistrust of the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- and the floor managers. Would the Sen- character of justice in our great land ator from Michigan. ator care to modify it now and take that we should entrust him with the of- Mr. LEVIN. If the Senator from that time? fice of Attorney General? Michigan will yield, I think we were Mr. LEVIN. We were alternating. Many years ago, during the Roo- going to go back and forth. Mr. WARNER. Does the Senator want sevelt administration, Supreme Court The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- to modify a unanimous consent re- Justice Frank Murphy served as Attor- ator from Alabama. quest? ney General and created the Civil Lib- Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask Mr. LEVIN. We just did. erties Union to prosecute local officials unanimous consent that after the Sen- Could the Senator from Virginia give who abused and even murdered blacks ator from Alabama has concluded, I be us a time indication. and union organizers. He summed up recognized. Mr. WARNER. I will take not more his constitutional philosophy in one The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without than 10 minutes if that is agreeable to sentence: ‘‘Only by zealously guarding objection, it is so ordered. my colleagues. the rights of the most humble, the Mr. SESSIONS. I was looking for The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- most unorthodox and the most despised Senator WARNER. In the absence of ator from Virginia. among us, can freedom flourish and en- Senator WARNER, I will mention a cou- Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I join dure in our land.’’ Could Senator ple of things. the many Members today to support

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.049 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S863 the nomination of our former col- fairly and squarely in basically a con- I see my friend standing. Does he league—our friend, indeed—John vention or modified primary type situ- wish to comment? Ashcroft, to serve as the Attorney Gen- ation. I was in strong support of that Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, if I could, eral of the United States. individual. Then his light plane one and I do not wish to interfere in any Article II, section 2, of the Constitu- night crashed. way in the Senator’s time. tion provides that the President shall I have had that experience. I shared Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I think name and, with the advice and consent it with my friend, John Ashcroft, be- this is an important point, certainly to of the Senate, shall appoint judges of cause he was so deeply shaken by this this Senator. I value the views of my the Supreme Court and all other offi- tragedy. There is not a one of us who friend. cers of the United States. couldn’t say, ‘‘Well, it could have been Mr. LEAHY. I respect the views of Thus, the Constitution provides a me,’’ the way we have to travel across the distinguished Senator from Vir- role for both the President and the our States, across our land, in these ginia, who has been my friend from day Senate in this process. The President small planes and many other modes of 1 in this place. I knew him before in his has the power to nominate; the Senate conveyance at all hours of the day and other capacities, such as Secretary of has the power to render advice and con- night. the Navy. I have cherished, at home, a sent on the nomination. John Ashcroft approached that tragic souvenir from the bicentennial year In fulfilling the constitutional role of situation in a very balanced and fair which I received from him. He has been the Senate, throughout my career— manner. To some extent, he counseled a man to whom I have gone for counsel some 23 years I have been privileged to with several of us. But it was a very on a number of issues. I refer to him as represent the Commonwealth of Vir- difficult decision as to how he should my Senator away from home because I ginia—I have always tried to give fair conduct himself for the balance of that spend the week in Virginia when we are and objective consideration to both Re- campaign. I think he did it admirably. in session. publican and Democratic Presidential He did it with great courage and re- He and I, of course, disagree on this Cabinet-level appointees; as a matter spect for the tragedy that had befallen nomination. I understand he stated his of fact, all appointees. his State. strong views on it. I have stated mine. Traditionally, a President, especially If I ever had any doubts about John I promised two things to both the then after taking office following a national Ashcroft, the manner in which he han- President-elect and Senator Ashcroft. I election, should be entitled to select dled that tragic situation will forever promised them two things when they individuals who he believes can best place in my mind that this man has the called me to tell me they were going to serve this Nation and his goals as integrity, not only to be Attorney Gen- nominate him: No. 1, that there would President. It has always been my pol- eral but to take on any public office of be questions, tough questions, but I icy to review Cabinet nominees to en- this land. would conduct a fair hearing. I believe Our colleague served in the Senate sure that the nominee has the basic I did. The nomination actually came to from 1994 to 2000, serving as a leader in qualifications and the basic experience the Senate Monday of this week, the the passage of welfare reform legisla- to ensure that nominee can perform official papers. We are moving to go tion and fighting for lower taxes, the job to which he has been nomi- forward with this. Everybody in the strong national defense, greater local nated, to ensure that the nominee also Senate knows approximately how the control of education, and enhanced law will enforce the laws of the land that vote will come out. enforcement. are key—and that is instrumental—in Prior to his service in the Senate, I tell the Senator from Virginia of a the consideration now being given to John Ashcroft served as Governor of conversation I had. As he can imagine, this important post of the Attorney Missouri from 1985 to 1993 and attorney prior to my announcing my opposition General of the United States, and to general of Missouri from 1976 to 1985. to Senator Ashcroft, I called Senator ensure that the nominee possesses a He dedicated over 28 years of his life to Ashcroft to tell him what I was going level of integrity and character that public service—over a quarter of a cen- to say and notified the White House the American people deserve and ex- tury. If he had flaws in his integrity, what I was going to say. But I sug- pect from public officeholder. they would have been carefully docu- gested one thing. I don’t think I di- Therein, perhaps, rests the widest mented, I am sure, in that period of vulge any confidence with Senator margin of discretion that should be ex- time. Ashcroft who spoke about what he has ercised by the Senate. All 100 members I would like to add this, again based gone through. It might have been the have brought to bear in this Chamber, on having the privilege of serving in same thing the Senator from Virginia and in other areas in which we daily this Chamber many years and having said. I suggested what he do after he is work to serve the Senate, experience gone through many hearings for Cabi- sworn in is that he meet quietly and that has enabled us to win the public net nominees and other nominees, this privately with a number of Senators office as Senator. That experience has was a very thorough hearing. Legiti- and House Members of both parties— fine-honed every Member of this Cham- mate questions can be asked as to how those who have an interest in law en- ber in one way or another, such that he fair it might have been in some in- forcement issues, interests that affect or she can judge facts, nominees, and stances, but it was unquestionably the Justice Department—meet on a the entirety of the situation to deter- thorough. It was prolonged—there is a private, off-the-record basis, hear their mine, does that individual have the in- question of the necessity of the length suggestions or their criticisms, and tegrity or do they not have that integ- of it—but anyway, it was thorough. vice versa. He assured me that he rity? In my opinion—and I say this with would. That is a very important function we the deepest respect to the members of He asked me also if I would be willing perform. the committee and most especially to to help bring Members who had voted I say to my colleagues, and to my this nominee, John Ashcroft, and I say against him or spoken against him to constituents, and to those who are in- to my good friend, the ranking mem- those meetings. I assured him I would terested in my views, that John ber, whom I have admired these many do that, too. The Senator from Vir- Ashcroft has the qualifications and the years in the Senate—John Ashcroft ginia makes a good point. experience and the integrity to under- emerges as a better, a stronger, a more I think the debate is good. I hope take this important office. deeply committed man as a con- Senators on both sides of the aisle will Former Senator John Ashcroft from sequence of this process. I feel that listen to the debate. Missouri recently lost his election bid ever so strongly. Each of us who has Again, I use this opportunity to men- to the Senate under most unusual cir- gone through these stressful situations tion one more time how much I have cumstances, not unlike the cir- that we confront from time to time in enjoyed the friendship and the wise cumstances that faced my State at one our public office—those of us who go counsel of my friend from Virginia. time, when we lost one of our most val- through those situations—and with- Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank ued public servants, a public servant stand the rigors of such an examina- my distinguished colleague. If I may who was contending for the office of tion, in all likelihood emerge a strong- say with deep respect to him as a the U.S. Senate, who had beaten me er person. friend first, and as a Senator second, I

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.065 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S864 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 think he agrees with my basic propo- The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding and his rhetoric are so divisive and po- sition that he emerges from this proc- American promise that everyone deserves a larizing that his nomination will not ess a stronger and a more deeply com- chance, that no insignificant person was ever provide the necessary confidence all mitted public servant. born. Americans are entitled to have in the Mr. LEAHY. I do, yes. And he called on Americans ‘‘to fairness and impartiality required of Mr. WARNER. Certainly from that enact this promise in our lives and our the Department of Justice. Here are standpoint, that alone would give ev- laws.’’ He then made this pledge: ‘‘I four examples: eryone a basis on which to cast a vote will work to build a single nation of First is his position and his effort in favor of this nomination. justice . . .’’ The Department of Justice with respect to the nomination of For those who are concerned about is the place above all where the chance Judge Ronnie White as a Federal Dis- Senator Ashcroft’s nomination, it is to further the vision of ‘‘a single na- trict Judge for the Eastern District of important to remember that once John tion of justice’’ resides. Missouri. It was unfair and inappro- Ashcroft is confirmed as our next At- Like the rest of my colleagues, I priate to maintain Judge White, a dis- torney General, he will serve at the know Senator Ashcroft in his role as tinguished jurist on the Missouri Su- pleasure of the President. Senator from, and as advocate for, the preme Court, had ‘‘a slant toward This time honored phrase, ‘‘At the State of Missouri. I consider him a criminals’’ and was ‘‘against . . . the pleasure of the President,’’ has been friend. But today we are not called culture in terms of maintaining order,’’ used by Presidents throughout Amer- upon to judge Senator Ashcroft as a as Senator Ashcroft did in his speech ican history to show the American peo- friend or colleague, as a Senator rep- to the Senate on October 4, 1999. It was ple that the President is the final arbi- resenting his home State, or as a nomi- unjust to say Judge White practices ter of accountability for his Cabinet nee for any other post but Attorney ‘‘procriminal jurisprudence’’ and will members. General of the United States—at this use his ‘‘lifetime appointment to push And, also, I’d like to remind my col- time in our history and keeping in law in a procriminal direction.’’ It was leagues in the Senate, and more broad- mind the goal of building a ‘‘single na- an unfounded and unfair characteriza- ly the American people, of the prom- tion of justice.’’ tion of Judge White to assert that ises John Ashcroft has made and the The Attorney General does not me- Judge White ‘‘has been very willing to oath that he will take. John Ashcroft chanically enforce the law. His job is say: We should seek, at every turn, in has promised to every American that not a matter of simply applying a spec- some of these cases to provide an addi- he will uphold the law of the land ified law to a specified set of facts. tional opportunity for an individual to whether he disagrees with such a law Great discretion resides with the At- escape punishment.’’ It was a signifi- or not. Once confirmed as Attorney torney General and the proper func- cant distortion of Judge White’s record General, John Ashcroft will raise his tioning of the Department of Justice for Senator Ashcroft to say in the same right hand and swear to uphold the law requires that the public—all the pub- speech to the Senate that Judge of the land. lic—feels that discretion will be exer- White’s ‘‘opinions, and particularly his When John Ashcroft makes a promise cised with balanced and deliberative dissents, reflect a serious bias against that he will uphold the law of the land, judgment. a willingness to impose the death pen- and when he takes that oath of office There are many times when a pros- alty,’’ given the fact that Judge White to uphold the law of the land, I take ecutor has within his grasp the power voted with then-Governor Ashcroft’s him at his word. to prosecute or take a pass, and in that appointees in death penalty cases 95 (The remarks of Mr. WARNER per- decision lies the lives of the people in- percent of the time. taining to the introduction of S. 225 are volved and their families. A commit- Moreover, it was unfair that Senator located in today’s RECORD under ment to enforce the law of the land is Ashcroft did not raise any reference to ‘‘Statements on Introduced Bills and the beginning point, not the ending the death penalty or any of his con- Joint Resolutions.’’) point. The discretion exercised by the cerns about Judge White’s record be- Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I yield Attorney General is not critical in the fore or at Judge White’s confirmation the floor and thank my colleagues. easy or obvious matters that do not re- hearing. Judge White was not given the The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. NEL- quire the Attorney General’s most con- chance to respond to these allegations SON of Nebraska). The Senator from sidered judgment, but in the complex during the consideration of his nomina- Michigan is recognized. and unclear ones where a commitment tion. Rather, these personal attacks Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the Sen- simply to enforce the law does not re- came well after Judge White had ap- ate will soon vote on whether or not solve the complexities, and where bal- peared before the Judiciary Com- one of our former colleagues and anced deliberation is essential. mittee. When asked at his own con- friend, Senator John Ashcroft, should If America is to build a ‘‘single na- firmation hearing whether he treated be confirmed to the position of Attor- tion of justice,’’ the Department of Judge White fairly, Senator Ashcroft ney General of the United States. In Justice should have as its head some- said: the vast majority of Cabinet nomina- one whose record demonstrates I believe that I acted properly in carrying tions, the decision is an obvious one. evenhandedness and whose rhetoric out my duties as a member of the committee and as a member of the Senate in relation to Most of a President’s nominees to his seeks to assure the American people of Judge White. Cabinet receive overwhelming, if not fair and balanced consideration, rather In responding in that fashion, he nei- unanimous, support by the Senate, and than division and distrust. More than ther defended his characterizations, that is as it should be. When it comes 25 years ago, at his swearing-in cere- qualified them or withdrew them. Sen- to Cabinet appointees, we as a Senate mony, Edward Levi, Attorney General ator Ashcroft’s response therefore left are willing to give the President wide under President Ford, reflected this standing as his current view his claims berth in his choice, knowing that, un- sentiment by stating if we are going to and statements with respect to Judge like the lifetime appointment of Fed- achieve ‘‘our common goals: among White. eral judges, the President must be able them domestic tranquility, the bless- Second is Senator Ashcroft’s inter- to choose appointees who can carry out ings of liberty and the establishment of view with Southern Partisan magazine, his program during his term, people justice’’ through the enforcement and a publication which has been described who share his values, his vision and his administration of law, then it takes as a ‘‘neo-confederate.’’ Senator ideals. But the Constitution also re- ‘‘dedicated men and women to accom- Ashcroft not only granted an interview quires us to exercise our judgment. The plish this through their zeal and deter- to Southern Partisan magazine, he deference owed the President is due mination, and also their concern for commended the magazine for helping deference, not unlimited deference. fairness and impartiality.’’ to ‘‘set the record straight.’’ He said: In his inaugural address to the Na- While Senator Ashcroft’s rhetoric We’ve all got to stand up and speak in this tion, President Bush laid out the vision over the years reveals his zeal and de- respect, or else we’ll be taught that these and ideals he will seek to carry out, vi- termination, it has not reflected the people were giving their lives, subscribing sions and ideals which I believe most of same concern for impartiality and fair- their sacred fortunes and their honor to us share. He said: ness. I have concluded that his record some perverted agenda.

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.067 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S865 While in that interview Senator During the same year, he addressed and his statements about Mr. Hormel’s Ashcroft expressed support for South- the Christian Coalition Road to Vic- qualifications to serve his country be- ern Partisan’s message, he later said tory and said: cause of his sexual orientation. that he did not know much about Instead of stopping drugs at the border, Senator Ashcroft has frequently en- Southern Partisan and did not know we’re investing in drug treatment centers. gaged in ‘‘us versus them″ rhetoric. He what it promoted. Fair enough. Instead of calling America to her highest and frequently rejects moderation and has But since his interview with South- best by saying ‘‘no’’ to drugs, we’re accom- even criticized some members of his ern Partisan, much has been said about modating drug users with treatment. . . . own party for engaging in what he the magazine in the media and at Sen- Again, it is not just Senator characterized as ‘‘deceptions’’ when ator Ashcroft’s own confirmation hear- Ashcroft’s views on drug treatment they ‘‘preach pragmatism, champion ing. Southern Partisan was described that are troublesome—although they conciliation [and] counsel com- as a ‘‘publication that defends slavery, are—it is his choice of words, his rhet- promise.’’ white separatism, apartheid and David oric, that is so divisive and so polar- Senator Ashcroft, in his confirmation Duke’’ by a media watch group. izing. To suggest, as Senator Ashcroft hearings, in his written answers to In 1995, Southern Partisan offered its does, that those who are crippled by questions posed by a number of Sen- subscribers T-shirts celebrating the as- addiction to drugs and who seek treat- ators, including myself, either re- sassination of Abraham Lincoln. In the ment are somehow the ‘‘lowest and affirmed some of his divisive state- same year, an author of an article in least’’ violates President Bush’s own ments or simply did not explain the ex- that publication alleged ‘‘there is no inaugural promise that ‘‘no insignifi- treme language. His refusal to com- indication that slavery is contrary to cant person was ever born″ and that we ment on some of the most troubling Christian ethics.’’ In 1990, another arti- will ‘‘build a single nation of justice.’’ past statements leaves them standing cle praised former Ku Klux Klan Grand When I asked Senator Ashcroft in a as his current views. His language and his approach to Wizard David Duke as ‘‘a Populist written question what he meant by issues in terms of ‘‘us versus them’’ spokesperson for a recapturing of the ‘‘lowest and least,’’ to give him an op- would not prevent me from voting for American ideal.’’ portunity to comment or to explain or his confirmation for most positions in In 1996, an article in the magazine al- to confirm the clear impression that leged ‘‘slave owners . . . did not have a the Cabinet. But more than any other those words create, his response was a Cabinet member, the Attorney Gen- practice of breaking up slave families. nonresponse. If anything, they encouraged strong eral, as the chief law enforcement offi- A fourth example is Senator cer of the United States, is charged slave families to further the slaves’ Ashcroft’s opposition to James peace and happiness.’’ In 1991, another with the responsibility of assuring that Hormel’s nomination for Ambassador the Department of Justice’s goal is writer printed in the publication wrote, to Luxembourg. Senator Ashcroft stat- ‘‘Newly arrived in New York City, I equal justice under the law for all ed in press accounts that he opposed Americans. And although I consider puzzled, ‘Where are the Americans?’ for Mr. Hormel’s nomination because Mr. I met only Italians, Jews, and Puerto John Ashcroft a friend, I will vote no Hormel ‘‘actively supported the gay on the nomination of John Ashcroft for Ricans.’’ lifestyle.’’ Senator Ashcroft also said a I take Senator Ashcroft at his word Attorney General of the United States. person’s sexual orientation ‘‘is within Mr. President, I yield the floor. that he did not know much about what could be considered and what is Mr. DEWINE addressed the Chair. Southern Partisan magazine when he eligible for consideration’’ with respect The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- praised them for helping to ‘‘set the to the qualifications to serve as an Am- ator from Ohio is recognized. record straight,’’ in his words. I take bassador. Mr. DEWINE. Mr. President, I rise in him at his word. But where was the im- To suggest that a person could not support of the nomination of John mediate disgust and repudiation when represent America’s interests or should Ashcroft. I have had the opportunity, he learned what he had inadvertently be judged professionally because of sex- for the last several weeks, as a member praised? And, after the inquiries of oth- ual orientation is inappropriate and di- of the Judiciary Committee, to listen ers, why not make a prompt inquiry to visive. to the testimony and to listen to what satisfy himself that he had not inad- When pressed on this issue by the has turned out to be fairly extensive vertently advanced the purpose of a ranking member of the Judiciary Com- hearings. racist publication? Even in his written mittee, Senator Ashcroft further re- The John Ashcroft I have known for responses to the Judiciary Committee, sponded in writing: 6 years, and whom most of us have he said he only rejects the publication I did not believe [Hormel] would effectively known for 6 years—some have known a ‘‘if the allegations about [the] maga- represent the United States in Luxembourg, lot longer—does not really bear much zine are true.’’ the most Roman Catholic country in all of resemblance to the individual who has More than 2 years after the original Europe. been described by those who have at- interview he gave to that magazine, it To suggest that Luxembourg would tacked him during this process. I must appears he never took it upon himself not welcome Mr. Hormel’s nomination say, he does not bear much resem- to inquire about the magazine’s pur- is not true. Luxembourg has outlawed blance to the individual whom some of pose, to see for himself if the allega- discrimination based on sexual orienta- my colleagues have pictured, both in tions were true, and, if so, to correct tion, and its Government specifically debate on the Senate floor and in the Judiciary Committee. the record. said they would welcome James The truth is that the John Ashcroft A person being considered for the of- Hormel as Ambassador. And, most im- fice of Attorney General—the single on whom we are going to vote, whose portantly, to fail to retract such con- nomination we are taking up, whose most important person charged with tentious statements about a person be- enforcing our Nation’s civil rights laws nomination we will vote on tomorrow, cause of his sexual orientation adds is the same John Ashcroft we have in a fair and just manner—should ac- further doubt that all our people will cept the obligation to make that in- known for 6 years. have confidence that this nominee will He is a man of integrity, a man of quiry if the American people are to strive to build that single nation of have faith that their Attorney General honesty, and a man of courage. He is justice for which the President has also a man who has taken controver- will ‘‘build a single nation of justice.’’ called. As a third example, I am troubled by sial positions, a man who has cast in In summary, I am deeply troubled by Senator Ashcroft’s previous speeches his lifetime thousands of votes. I don’t Senator Ashcroft’s record of repeatedly on drug treatment. In 1997, Senator think it should come as a shock to us divisive rhetoric and sometimes simply Ashcroft told the Claremont Institute: that someone who has been in public unfair personal attacks, such as what office for a quarter of a century would A government which takes the resources he has said and done about Judge that we should devote toward the interdic- have taken controversial positions. We tion of drugs and converts them to treat- White, his passive acceptance of the would worry if he had not. ment resources . . . is a government that ac- message of Southern Partisan, his This is a man who served as assistant commodates us at our lowest and least in- statements about drug treatment as attorney general of the State of Mis- stead of calls us to our highest and best. accommodating the ‘‘lowest and least,’’ souri, who served for 8 years as their

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.071 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S866 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 elected attorney general, who served is such an individual. I have not always gitimacy of the Presidency. I explained for 8 years as Missouri’s elected Gov- agreed with John. John and I have that I wanted to give the President his ernor and then, for 6 years, as Mis- voted differently on certain issues— choice. And to have to oppose some- souri’s elected U.S. Senator. He is a some high profile; some not so high body, no less a colleague, is not easy man who served as a member of the profile. I don’t think that is relevant. and requires some thought and for- Senate Judiciary Committee. What is relevant is, does this Presi- titude. So it is a sad day for me as a It should come as no surprise that he dent have the right to have his nomi- Senator. It is a sad day for the Senate has taken positions on many issues. It nee—I think he does—and is this a because we are so divided on this nomi- should come as no surprise that he has nominee who will conduct the office nation. cast thousands of votes. And, yes, he with integrity and with honesty. I have One of the things I have greatly ap- clearly does have a long track record. no doubt that history will judge John preciated since moving from the other It should not come as a surprise that Ashcroft in a favorable light. As they body is the comity that still reigns a record of a quarter of a century look back on his tenure as Attorney here to a significantly greater extent would generate criticism, or that it General of the United States, people than it does in the House and perhaps would generate a lot of criticism. will say: I may have agreed with him; than it does in the body politic. We I said, when the Judiciary Committee I may have disagreed with him on dif- still are friends across the aisle. We hearing started, I sometimes get the ferent issues. He may not always have fight hard. But when we can agree, we feeling that the longer someone is in been right, but I think he was a man of are much happier than when we dis- office, the more positions they have honesty, a man of goodwill, and he agree. That is the whole tone of the taken and, frankly, the better qualified brought honor to the office. body. The Senator from West Virginia, they are, the more controversial their I conclude by urging my colleagues more than probably any other person nomination probably is. And if you to vote for John Ashcroft, a man who I here, has made it clear to all of us that wanted someone with no controversy, believe will be a very excellent Attor- is what we aspire to be. the President would find someone to ney General at a time in our country’s It is a sad day when the Senate is so nominate who had virtually no track history when we need someone who staunchly and strongly divided when record to shoot at. will carry out the duties of that job we would all, I think, prefer to be The fact is, this Attorney General with all the problems that we face as a united. I don’t believe division is com- nominee, this individual, John country, all the challenges that we ing from this side of the aisle. If we Ashcroft, after he is confirmed, will ul- have, and who will, in fact, bring the were truly bipartisan, we all would timately be judged as Attorney Gen- expertise that that particular job have supported Senator Ashcroft. No. I eral not by any one particular position needs. believe that when the President nomi- he will take or any one particular deci- I believe John Ashcroft has the expe- nated Senator Ashcroft, he was well sion he will make. rience, has the background, and has aware that someone of Senator If you look back over the last half a the integrity to be a very excellent At- Ashcroft’s hard-right views would stir century, look at the Attorneys General torney General. opposition, or should stir opposition. I and look at how history judges them. I thank the Chair. I yield the floor. don’t accept in any way what some It is not the day-to-day decisions. It is The PRESIDING OFFICER. The have said—that if this body were truly probably a handful of big decisions to Chair recognizes the Senator from New bipartisan, Senator Ashcroft would be which we look. But even more impor- York. confirmed 100–0. tant than that is probably the percep- Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Mr. You could argue that if the President tion that we have about what type of President. I thank my colleagues on were truly bipartisan, he might not person the Attorney General was: How both sides of the aisle for their state- have nominated Senator Ashcroft. For did they conduct their office? What ments. This is what the Senate is sup- that reason, I think it is a sad day for kind of respect did they have? Did they posed to do on very important issues of the President. He has, in my judgment, bring honesty and integrity and cour- the day—deliberate as carefully as pos- had a good beginning to his term. He is age to that job? sible. We are doing that, and we are reaching out. The message he sent dur- The job of Attorney General is dif- doing that very carefully in the Sen- ing the campaign that he wished to ferent. It is different in many respects ate. work with people from both sides of the than any other Cabinet position. It is Mr. President, I rise in opposition to aisle in large part has been met, at different because this individual has to the nomination of John Ashcroft to be least in these very early days of his ad- be adviser to the President, has to be Attorney General of the United States. ministration. able to give the President confidential, I do this with no glee or exultation. I One of my roommates was GEORGE good advice. But he or she is more than do this without any feeling of joy. In MILLER, one of the stronger Democrats that. He or she is the person who fact, I believe this is a sad day in so in the House. And he spent some time stands for law enforcement and, in a many ways. In a certain sense, it is a with the President and is utterly sense, is the chief law enforcement offi- sad day for John Ashcroft and his fam- amazed and pleased with the Presi- cer of this country. ily. They have been through a lot in dent’s attitude. The Attorney General has to be these past weeks. It is sad because But this is particularly a sad day for someone who can tell the President yes while so many of us have disagreed the Presidency because this is the one when the President needs to be told with John Ashcroft’s views and at place, more than any other, in the yes, but also, much more importantly, times we thought his methods were un- early morning of his administration can look the President in the eye and toward, he has devoted himself to pub- where he has sent a nomination that is tell the President no when the Presi- lic service, which I believe is a noble not, in my judgment, one that reaches dent has to be told no. calling. In the heat of battle, it is not out to the middle of the country, one The Attorney General is ultimately easy for those who speak against him that says I do want to be bipartisan. someone who on certain occasions will and, certainly for Senator Ashcroft and At his inauguration the President disagree with the President. How that his family, to hear people speaking said, ‘‘While many of our citizens pros- person conducts the office under those against him. per, others doubt the promise, even the circumstances may define that person’s It is a sad day for me because it is justice, of our own country.’’ Unfortu- tenure as Attorney General and how never easy opposing a nominee and a nately, this choice for Attorney Gen- history judges that individual. It ulti- former colleague. I believe that one eral has given many in our country mately comes down to is the person a gives the President the benefit of the even more reason to doubt this promise person of integrity, someone of hon- doubt in terms of appointments. It is of justice. esty, someone of courage, someone who the President’s Cabinet. He won the Finally, it is a sad day for our coun- brings honor to the office, someone election. Yes, it was close. But I said try. The elections we went through cre- who cares passionately about justice. then and believe every bit as much ated a lot of pain for a lot of people. My experience with John Ashcroft today that the closeness of the election There is a good portion of America over the last 6 years is that clearly he should do nothing to undermine the le- that feels disenchanted and even

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.078 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S867 disenfranchised. This nomination, in what this nomination debate should do not believe John Ashcroft is a rac- my judgment, is the one position in the boil down to, at least in the opinion of ist. I don’t just say that. He has ap- Cabinet where unity and ability to one Senator. This is what I wrote: pointed people of color to judicial and reach out to every part of the Amer- We should carefully analyze the functions executive positions. His wife teaches at ican people is called for and, more than of the Attorney General and then closely Howard University. But I think when any other, this nomination, sadly, scrutinize Senator Ashcroft’s record to de- you put all these pieces together, what threw salt on the wounds of those who termine whether he can fully, impartially, you see is a pattern of insensitivity to felt disenfranchised. and adequately perform all of those func- the long and tortured history our coun- It is a sad day—a sad day for Senator tions. But merely asking if he can do the job is unhelpful. The hearings must probe into try has had with race. Ashcroft, a sad day for those of us who the nominee’s positions on each of the many When several of my colleagues on the feel an honor-bound duty to oppose different areas of law that the Attorney Gen- committee asked him for some feeling him. It is a sad day for the Senate. It eral must enforce. These range from anti- of remorse, given this record, we didn’t is a sad day for the new President. It is trust and environmental laws to drug and see any. There wasn’t any new sensi- a sad day for America. gun laws to hate crimes, voting rights, and tivity that showed itself. With that said, it is important that clinic protection laws. The Attorney General of our country we all recognize what the opposition to After 3 weeks of statements, ques- should not be insensitive. He should be this nomination is not based on. It is tions, answers, hearings, and now just the opposite. The Attorney Gen- not based on Senator Ashcroft’s reli- votes, I still think this statement cuts eral, more than any other Cabinet min- gion. It makes no difference whether he to the heart of the matter and has ister, should be acutely aware and sen- be Christian, or Jew, or Muslim, or Zo- guided me ever since this process sitive on the issue of race, which de roastrian. His faith is a gift. As a per- began. Tocqueville, over 150 years ago, said son of faith myself, and a different What are the functions of the Attor- would be the one thing that would stop faith than his, but deep and abiding ney General? And what is the Ashcroft America from greatness. faith, I respect his faith. I think it is a record? These are the two essential I do not believe this nomination for wonderful faith. questions. Attorney General meets that criteria. I think all things being equal, I The duties of the Attorney General On choice, Senator Ashcroft has been would like to see a nominee for any primarily involve: (1) enforcement of at the helm for decades leading the high position in this land hold such a all Federal laws, both civil and crimi- drive to overturn Roe v. Wade and evis- position of faith. But his faith, while it nal; (2) litigating the constitutionality cerate a woman’s right to choose. His is a wonderful thing, and wonderful for of all Federal laws and regulations, in- beliefs are heartfelt; they are sincere. many, respect for his faith does not cluding before the Supreme Court; (3) However, in my judgment, they are mean one simply supports him. I advising the President, the agencies, wrong. He has led the charge to enact wouldn’t do that for anybody because and even Congress on the constitu- new abortion hurdles and restrictions. of their own personal belief. I think it tionality of laws and various federal I am not saying that Senator Ashcroft is unfair for some to say that because actions; (4) judicial vetting and selec- should be rejected for being pro-life. I of one’s faith, one should adopt an tion; (5) representing all of the federal was happy to vote for Tommy Thomp- issue. agencies in litigation; and (6) super- son to be the Secretary of HHS despite As many of my colleagues have said, vising the U.S. attorneys. the fact that I disagree with his views this is a significant and important This job is the most sensitive and one on choice. And I believe that a pro-life nomination. I think I should give my of the most powerful positions in the position is not at all a disqualification view of this. It is time to set the record Cabinet. for Attorney General, as much as I straight that those of us who are tak- Importantly, all of these complicated would prefer to see someone pro- ing issue with Senator Ashcroft’s years duties require the Attorney General to choice. of activist opposition to causes and exercise enormous judgment and enor- Let me say to my colleagues on the ideals in which we believe so deeply, mous discretion. Much of the power of other side of the aisle, if someone was are basing that on his record as Gov- the Attorney General adheres in this nominated for Attorney General who ernor, as State attorney general, and discretion, which is not constrained by was vehemently pro-choice, who simply as Senator, and, emphatically, not on law. Following law, to me at least, did not just espouse a pro-choice posi- his religious faith. isn’t enough—although it is an impor- tion, but in his or her career spent dec- About a month ago, when the process tant threshold question. ades trying to find ways of expanding of this nomination first got underway, I think it is fair and reasonable to ex- the law so that, say, abortion on de- there was a lot of anger and even fury amine Senator Ashcroft’s public posi- mand, for 9 months, would be perfectly in our country. It didn’t come from the tions over the years, as well as how he legal, wouldn’t Members be more upset leaders of a few groups; it came from has exercised the judgment and discre- and raise a louder voice than against a citizens of different walks of life, of dif- tion and power vested in him. When we nominee who was simply pro-choice? Of ferent races, of different genders, and look at that record—and we did very course. Thus we who believe in the pro- of different sexual orientation, who, closely in the hearings—we see a very choice side say it is not because Sen- once they became familiar with Sen- stark picture of a man on a mission, a ator Ashcroft is pro-life that we oppose ator Ashcroft’s record, said, How is this man who with passion and with zeal him but because of the vehemence and man going to be as Attorney General? sought to advocate and enact the agen- extreme position of his views. He Given the view I stated earlier, I like da of the far right wing of the Repub- hasn’t been just anti-choice. He has to give the President the benefit of the lican Party. been one of the most outspoken anti- doubt and am willing to support Cabi- On civil rights, as Governor he choice crusaders in the country. It is net members with whom I disagree fought voluntary desegregation—that not his belief that abortion is murder ideologically if nominated by the is, voluntary desegregation—and ve- that makes me oppose him. It is his President. toed bills designed to boost voter reg- past willingness to bend and torture I decided to jot down on a piece of istration in the inner city of St. Louis. the law to serve his desire to eliminate, paper what I thought the hearings and More recently, as Senator, he opposed totally eliminate, even in rape and in- ultimately the vote on the Ashcroft the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which cest, a woman’s right to choose that nomination should really be about. would have strengthened the Federal makes me oppose him. Frankly, I was concerned that with the response to hate crimes motivated by This is not simply what he said but torrent of opposition charges, race, color, region, or national origin, what he did when he had executive countercharges, and a whirlwind of pol- and would have extended the law to power, when he became the attorney itics, the real issues on which we cover crimes targeting gender, sexual general of Missouri. He didn’t relin- should focus would be obscured or con- orientation, and disability. quish his role of a passionate advocate sumed by other forces. I sat down at We all know about the Bob Jones against choice, as he says he will now my kitchen table in Brooklyn on a Sat- speech and the Southern Partisan Re- do. He joined in a suit against nurses urday morning and tried to formulate view and the Ronnie White debacle. I who dispensed contraceptives. He sued

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 02:58 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.073 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 S868 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 31, 2001 the National Organization of Women such vehement and strong opposition, force the law fully, you could never under the antitrust laws to muzzle he was not saying that somebody so far rule out ideological disposition. If Bull their attempt to pass the ERA. He to the right should be Attorney Gen- Connor had been nominated for Attor- tried to pass statutes that end abor- eral, but he was saying he was a dif- ney General, my guess is we would all tion. He tried to pass constitutional ferent person or would be a different say, even if we were certain he would amendments to do the same. person as Attorney General than he enforce existing law, we would be cer- For John Ashcroft, at least when he was as Senator. Every Senator will tain he should not be Attorney Gen- was Senator, ending abortion by any have to judge for himself or herself eral, based on his past, based on his means necessary was the end all and be whether he can do that, even if he ideology. all of his political career. should want to. I do not think he can. Senator Ashcroft is not Bull Connor; There was some discussion in the In my opinion, John Ashcroft’s unique he was a bigot. Senator Ashcroft is not. hearings that some of the groups op- past will indelibly mark his future, But we all have to draw the line at posing this nomination were doing it to making his nomination a source of some point. And we all do. raise money and raise their profiles. I anger and fear to so many in the coun- It is easy to say ideology will never resent that. Let me say when you sit try. enter into our decision, voting for a down with people in these groups and I have one other point in this area. nomination. In reality, that principle look them in the eye, what you see is John Ashcroft, at least to so many in is virtually impossible to maintain fear, fear that we will start moving this country, has had the appearance of when given nominees of ideologies to back to the days before Roe v. Wade, not being concerned about these issues, the far side, one way or the other—far fear that back-alley abortions will even if you do not agree with the re- left or far right. It is logical because again be the norm, fear that equal ality. Many would dispute that. They the job of Attorney General is not just rights for women will become a fig- would say the reality is there, too. I enforcing the law, as important as that ment of the past. Some may feel these would myself. John Ashcroft has the is. As I mentioned before, it contains fears are unfounded, but the motiva- appearance of not being concerned vast discretion. For example, the At- tion is not mercenary or crass, it is as about issues of deep concern to these torney General will decide what cases deep and as heartfelt as the speeches I groups: to African Americans, to will or will not be pursued in the Su- have heard from some of my colleagues Latinos, to women, to gay and lesbian preme Court. That is not just following supporting Senator Ashcroft. people. Just the appearance of such un- the law. Senator Ashcroft also, Mr. President, fairness would make it much harder for He will help draft new legislation and has been a leader in the charge against him to be Attorney General. That ‘‘ap- give influential commentary on pro- gun control. He has fought to kill legis- pearance’’ argument to me is not dis- posals circulating in Congress. That is lation that would have made it easier positive, but it weighs into the mix. not just enforcing existing law. to catch illegal gunrunners dealing Let’s assume for a minute, let’s just He will, perhaps, be the most signifi- with the issue of enforcement. He has accept on its face the argument that cant voice in the country when it vociferously opposed even the child Senator Ashcroft can devote himself comes to filling vacancies, particularly safety locks and the assault weapons solely to the administration of existing on our court of appeals. ban. These were some of the main law. Let’s assume he will not challenge Regarding the Supreme Court, most issues with John Ashcroft’s record that Roe—which he did say at the hearing. of us believe the President, with advice were examined at the Judiciary Com- He said he would not roll back civil from the Attorney General, will make mittee hearings. To be fair, Senator rights enforcement; he would not do each decision. But at least if the past is Ashcroft took us on. He directly con- away with the assault weapons ban. prologue, for court of appeal judges, in fronted many of those issues and un- This is an appealing way to look at the the vetting process, the bringing of equivocally asserted that as Attorney nomination. Our better angels want to them forward, the Attorney General General, he would uphold and enforce believe this will be the future of the has enormous say and weight. and defend all the laws of the land Justice Department. It is an enormous power. Every one whether he agreed with them or not. But in reality when you really ex- of these is an enormous power. And At the start of the hearings, I asked plore it and don’t avoid it, this is a none of them will be hindered at all by Senator Ashcroft the following ques- naive perspective on the powers of the Senator Ashcroft’s newfound devotion tion: When you have been such a zealot Attorney General. Just saying that to existing law. and impassioned advocate for so long, Senator Ashcroft will enforce and re- The argument that concerns me the how can you just turn it off? spect existing law ignores the reality most is the selection of Federal judges, His answer was: I’ll be driving a dif- that the Attorney General has vast or the one of these arguments, because ferent car. There’s nothing to turn off. power and discretion to shape legal pol- these Federal judges will serve for dec- And our hearings in the committee icy in the Federal judiciary, ades. They often have the last word on revolved around this question: Given unhindered by any devotion to existing some of the most significant issues our his past, what kind of future as Attor- law. society faces. It is safe to expect that ney General would he have? As I said My good friend from Wisconsin, Sen- the principles that have guided Senator at the committee vote yesterday, after ator FEINGOLD, has argued that simply Ashcroft’s views on judicial nomina- all these hearings, all the witnesses, all enforcement of the law is enough, and tions in the Senate will be the exact the studying of the record, and Senator he will give Senator Ashcroft the ben- same principles that will guide him as Ashcroft’s testimony, the conclusion efit of the doubt that he will enforce Attorney General. This is not ‘‘fol- for me is clear. I do not believe that the law. lowing the law.’’ Attorney General Ashcroft can stop I would argue, no, that while you cer- Assuming, arguendo, that we believe being Senator Ashcroft. I am not con- tainly give the President the benefit of Senator Ashcroft will follow existing vinced that he can now step outside the the doubt in terms of an appointment, law in his law enforcement capacity, ideological fray he has been knee-deep ideology has to enter into it because there is no reason to believe in this ca- in, set his advocacy to one side and be- the Attorney General does so many pacity what he did in the Senate will come the balanced decisionmaker with things that are not simply enforcing be any different than what he does as an unclouded vision of the law that the law but are rendering opinions in Attorney General. And, as Attorney this country deserves as its Attorney choosing judges, areas of discretion. I General, of course, he will have signifi- General. do not think even if one ascribed to cantly more power and the same large- Ironically, I don’t think Senator Senator FEINGOLD’s argument—and I ly unbounded discretion in influencing Ashcroft disagrees we need a balanced say it with due respect; he is a man of who becomes a Federal judge—much Attorney General. That is why he went deep principle and I respect his deci- more than he did as a Senator. As a to great lengths during the hearing to sion. He argued eloquently in com- Senator, he was willing to fully flex his portray himself as now being different mittee yesterday, and I know he ideological muscle and use power over than the Senator Ashcroft we all knew. thought long and hard about it. But nominations in a disturbing and divi- He was not saying that someone of even if you assume someone would en- sive way.

VerDate 31-JAN-2001 04:25 Feb 01, 2001 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G31JA6.079 pfrm02 PsN: S31PT1 January 31, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S869 In my 2 years in the Senate, the Ron- PROVIDING FOR AN ADJOURN- against all enemies foreign and domes- nie White vote, led by Senator MENT OF THE HOUSE OF REP- tic. Ashcroft’s decision to use the Repub- RESENTATIVES I have heard arguments pro and con lican caucus to kill the nomination, Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, as in leg- with respect to this nomination. I am was the bleakest, most divisive and de- islative session, I ask unanimous con- not here to argue the case at all. I am structive moment I have experienced sent that the Senate proceed to the im- here merely to express my support for in my short stay in the Senate. It was mediate consideration of H. Con. Res. the nomination of John Ashcroft to be a moment utterly lacking in—to use 18, an adjournment resolution, which is Attorney General of the United States. our President’s words in his inau- at the desk. I further ask unanimous I will not fall out with anyone else who gural—civility, courage, compassion, consent that the resolution be agreed differs from my views. As I say, I am and character. to and the motion to reconsider be laid not here to debate my views. I know But the Ronnie White nomination upon the table. what my views are. I am going to state was just the most visible attempt by The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there them, and they will be on the record. I Senator Ashcroft to kill a nomination. objection? do not fault anyone else on either side The list goes on and on: Fletcher, Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, reserving of the aisle or on either side of the Satcher, Lann Lee, Morrow, the right to object. question. This is for each Senator to Sotomayor, Paez, Dyk, Lynch, The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- resolve in his or her own heart and in Hormel—and there are others. ator from West Virginia reserves the accordance with his or her own con- In just one term in the Senate, Sen- science. ator Ashcroft devoted himself to oppos- right to object. Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair. What With respect to that provision in the ing—and when possible scuttling and are the terms of the adjournment reso- U.S. Constitution, investing in the U.S. derailing—any nominee, no matter how Senate the prerogative, the right, and well qualified and respected, who was lution? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The the duty of advising and consenting to in some way objectionable to his world nominations, I find no mandate as to view. It is virtually an inescapable con- clerk will report the resolution. The assistant legislative clerk read what a standard may be. I am not told clusion that with the new power he as follows: in that Constitution that I can or can- would have over the selection of A concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 18) not apply a standard that is ideological judges, Senator Ashcroft would seek in nature. I have no particular guid- out those who agree with his pas- providing for an adjournment of the House of Representatives. ance set forth in that Constitution ex- sionate views on choice and civil Mr. HATCH. It only affects the House cept exactly what it says. And I am rights, on a separation of church and confident, without any semblance of state, and gun control, among other and takes them out until next Tues- day. doubt, that as far as ability is con- issues, when he reviews judges. cerned to conduct the office of Attor- I urge my colleagues to read the Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator. I ney General, there can be no question short article called ‘‘Judicial Des- have no objection. about Senator John Ashcroft’s ability potism’’ that Senator Ashcroft wrote a The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. to conduct that office. few short years ago. This was not He has held many offices. He has something written 25 years ago when The concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 18) was agreed to, as follows: been a Governor of the State of Mis- he was a young man forming his views. souri. He has been a United States Sen- H. CON. RES. 18 In ‘‘Judicial Despotism,’’ he vows to ator. He has been an attorney general Resolved by the House of Representatives (the stop any judicial nominee who would of the State of Missouri and, as I un- uphold Roe v. Wade. Nothing could be Senate concurring), That when the House ad- journs on the legislative day of Wednesday, derstand it, he has been the chairman— more results oriented. In the hearings, I may not have the title exactly right— Senator Ashcroft said he would be law January 31, 2001, it stand adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, February 6, 2001. of the National Association of Attor- oriented, not results oriented, but this f neys General of the United States. is as results oriented as it gets. These are very important offices. They If he is confirmed, I pray that more NOMINATION OF JOHN ASHCROFT are high offices. They are offices that moderate souls prevail in the selection TO BE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF reflect honor upon the holder thereof. of judges. But as it now stands, this THE UNITED STATES—Continued To have been selected for these high nomination poses an enormous threat The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- offices, John Ashcroft must have en- to the future of the Federal judiciary, ator from West Virginia, Mr. BYRD, is joyed the respect and the confidence of and I would oppose the nomination for recognized. the people of Missouri and of his col- that reason alone. Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair. leagues, other Attorneys General As I said when I started, this is a sad Mr. President, I daresay that each of throughout the United States. day—not a day for exultation, for hap- us has received an enormous amount of I, myself, do consider ideology when I piness, for parades. It is sad when the correspondence and a plethora of phone consider a nominee, for this office, At- Nation is divided. It is sad when a man calls about the nomination of Senator torney General, and in particular for who has served so long is the focal John Ashcroft to be Attorney General the offices of Federal district judge- point of such intense opposition. It is of the United States. ships or appellate judgeships, and U.S. sad when those of us who want to sup- The favorable correspondence tends Supreme Court Judgeships; yes, I do. I port a new President cannot. It is sad to emphasize support for the Senator’s apply my own standards of ideology, when, as a nation, a nation trying to policy priorities and appreciation of and lay them down beside the record, if bind itself together, we find salt his reputation for honesty and integ- there be such, of a nominee. And I may thrown in those wounds. rity. I just hope, and I believe, that we reach a judgment based on ideology. The unfavorable correspondence I have no problem with others who will have better days to look forward tends to emphasize concern about the want to apply the criterion of ideology. to. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Senator’s policy priorities and dis- I have no problem with those who say Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I suggest approval of the standards that he ap- it should not be applied. This is for the absence of a quorum. plied as a United States Senator and in each Senator to determine. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The previous offices that he held, but par- It is our understanding, based on clerk will call the roll. ticularly to the standards he applied Senator Ashcroft’s record, certainly The assistant legislative clerk pro- with regard to the disposition of Presi- based on news reports, and other ceeded to call the roll. dential nominations. sources from which we might reach a Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask Mr. President, I speak today for my- judgment, that Senator Ashcroft is a unanimous consent that the order for self as a Senator from the State of conservative. I personally have no the quorum call be rescinded. West Virginia, as one who has sworn an problem with that. I consider myself a The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without oath 16 times to support and defend the conservative in many ways; in some objection, it is so ordered. Constitution of the United States ways a liberal.

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