Ashcroft Says He Would Not Challenge Roe Ruling
January 18, 2001
From The New York Times
By NEIL A. LEWIS and DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 — John Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee today that, if confirmed as attorney general, he would not seek any opportunities to challenge Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's landmark ruling upholding abortion rights, a statement that momentarily alarmed some of his supporters in the anti-abortion movement.
In his second day before the committee, Mr. Ashcroft, a former senator of Missouri, faced stiff, sometimes harsh, questioning from Democrats who challenged him on issues including abortion, gun control and his record on civil rights.
Even so, Mr. Ashcroft received his first explicit pledge of support from a Democratic senator today when Zell Miller of Georgia said he would vote for his confirmation.
"Basically, I believe that a president should be able to select his own team," Senator Miller said.
And while Democratic senators Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Joseph R. Biden Jr. Of Delaware sharply questioned Mr. Ashcroft today, both said they expected he would be confirmed.
During today's session, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois sharply criticized Mr. Ashcroft for his successful effort to block a black Missouri Supreme Court justice from appointment as a federal judge.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts demanded that Mr. Ashcroft apologize for saying that gun owners needed their rights protected to prevent a tyrannical government in the United States. And Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York questioned whether Mr. Ashcroft could put aside his strong anti-abortion views to enforce laws ensuring women the right to obtain an abortion.
Through it all, Mr. Ashcroft sought to remain calm.
No matter how stinging the question, he began his response
with a variation of "Thank you for your question and your thinking on the matter."
It was in his exchange with Senator Schumer that he made what seemed to be a pledge to leave undisturbed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that first declared a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. In response to a question, Mr. Ashcroft said he expected to take that position even if the composition of the Supreme Court was to change in a way that might make the court more inclined to overturn Roe.
In response to Mr. Schumer's questioning, Mr. Ashcroft said that the Supreme Court had clearly signaled the issue was settled and that the justices did not want to revisit the matter.
Mr. Ashcroft described the message sent by the court in many rulings subsequent to 1973 as, We don't want to be bothered with this.
Mr. Ashcroft's comments seem to go beyond his repeated assurances that he would enforce the law despite his opposition. Previous Republican administrations have said they were enforcing the law while regularly petitioning the justices to overturn Roe, sometimes seeking opportunities in cases where it was not a principal issue.
Mr. Schumer pointedly asked what Mr. Ashcroft would do if the solicitor general — the Justice Department official who represents the administration before the Supreme Court — told him that he or she wanted to bring a case to overturn Roe.
Mr. Ashcroft replied: "Frankly, I think it is not wise to devalue the credibility of the solicitor general in taking things to the court which the court considered settled."
He added: "I just want to indicate that if you think I have changed to believe that aborting unwanted children is a good thing, I don't. But I know what it means to enforce the law, and I know what I believe the law is here."
Jay Sekulow, a leading figure in the anti-abortion movement, said afterward that Mr. Ashcroft's remarks alarmed many people who oppose Roe. But Mr. Sekulow, who is chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, said he had spent the afternoon calming opponents of abortion, reminding them that President-elect George W. Bush has said he does not think it is wise to seek to overturn Roe, at least not until there is a wholesale
change in public opinion.
"I think most of us accept that position," said Mr. Sekulow, who has argued several major anti-abortion cases before the Supreme Court.
The confirmation hearings, which are expected to last through the week, was moved today to the Senate Caucus Room, a historic chamber last used by the Judiciary Committee in 1991 for the turbulent hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to be a Supreme Court justice.
The Ashcroft hearing had echoes of that event, chiefly in some of the sharp partisan flareups among the committee members. And former Senator John C. Danforth of Missouri, who had been Mr. Thomas's chief defender, made a special presentation today on behalf of Mr. Ashcroft.
Mr. Ashcroft seemed taken aback when he was confronted by Senator Durbin concerning Ronnie White, the first black justice on the Missouri Supreme Court, who was denied a federal judgeship after Mr. Ashford lobbied other senators to vote against him. Mr. Ashcroft labeled Justice White "pro-criminal" and said he was soft on the death penalty.
Mr. Durbin contended that Senator Ashcroft had willfully misrepresented Justice White's record on the death penalty. When Mr. Ashcroft said that he and the other Republicans in the Senate rejected Mr. White's appointment as a federal district judge, they did so because Missouri law-enforcement groups had expressed concern.
Mr. Durbin replied that the record showed that most law enforcement people, in fact, admired Ronnie White and that those groups that opposed him did so only in response to a solicitation from Mr. Ashcroft's office.
Mr. Durbin quoted Carl Wolf, the president of the Missouri Chiefs of Police, the state's largest police organization, who has said that he rejected a request from Mr. Ashcroft to oppose the White nomination and that he admired Justice White.
"It appears that your conclusion about Justice Ronnie White is a conclusion that is not shared by the law enforcement community of the state of Missouri," Mr. Durbin said. "A man who has an extraordinary background was given, I think, shabby treatment by the Senate, because of your instigation, Senator Ashcroft. I think that is troublesome."
Justice White is scheduled to testify on Thursday and opponents of Mr. Ashcroft have said they hope that he will come across as someone unfairly treated by Mr. Ashcroft.
Seconds after Mr. Durbin excoriated Mr. Ashcroft, Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, abruptly shifted the tone in the room, saying:
"I welcome you, John, back to the pit. You've been doing a tremendous job, and how you can remain cool and thoughtful when we switch from subject to subject, many of them most complex, and many over quite a number of years, is really a tribute to your intellectual capacity and your clear thinking."
In response to questions by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, Mr. Ashcroft also testified he would defend the constitutionality of firearms restrictions that he had opposed as a senator, including her proposals to make some gun crimes subject to federal racketeering laws.
"I don't believe the Second Amendment to be one that forbids any regulation of guns," Mr. Ashcroft said.
Earlier in the day, Senator Kennedy reacted angrily to comments by Senator John Kyl, Republican of Arizona, that on Tuesday, in the first day of confirmation hearings, he had misrepresented Mr. Ashcroft's record in opposing school desegregation efforts in St. Louis.
Mr. Kennedy suggested that he might debate the issue at length on the Senate floor, a reference to a possible filibuster.
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company |
