ABORTION: Ashcroft’s opposition to abortion is out-spoken and unyielding–he would outlaw abortion even in cases of rape and incest, and he would allow it only when medically necessary to save the life of the mother. This has drawn fire from liberals, abortion-rights groups and women’s rights groups, and it poses one particularly hot question. As attorney general, Ashcroft would be responsible for enforcing laws protecting abortion clinics against harassment by right-to-life groups. Would he do it? “The very idea that he wouldn’t support the law is ridiculous,” says Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Ashcroft’s critics aren’t convinced; he’ll have to respond.
RONNIE WHITE: The first African-American to serve on the Missouri Supreme Court, Justice White will be a lead witness when the hearings get underway. That’s because Ashcroft blocked White’s appointment to a federal judgeship because he claimed White was “pro-criminal” and soft on the death penalty. White’s opposition to an anti-abortion bill while he was a state legislator may have further alienated Ashcroft. Critics say that was just a smear, and the implication is that Ashcroft blocked White because of race–a claim that Ashcroft’s defenders deny.
RELIGION: Ashcroft, whose father and grandfather were both Pentecostal ministers, is a deeply religious man who supports school prayer, tuition vouchers for religious schools and public funding for charities run by religious organizations. Would he blur the line between church and state? The question is “insulting,” says conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. “They’re against Ashcroft because he’s a pro-lifer and a religious man. It’s as simple as that.”
GUN CONTROL: Ashcroft, who broadly supports gun owners’ rights, got strong backing from the NRA during his Senate campaign last year. The question now is whether he’ll support the Brady law and the assault-weapons ban when they come up for reauthorization in Congress. It’s like “the fox guarding the henhouse,” says Michael Barnes of Handgun Control, Inc.
BOB JONES:The search for a smoking gun led Ashcroft opponents to the text of a short commencement address he gave at Bob Jones University in 1999. Last week the school released a transcript that showed Ashcroft’s emphatically Christian point of view–in America, he said, “we have no king but Jesus”–but revealed no controversial specifics on political or social issues. The episode still rankles opponents because Bob Jones in the past barred interracial dating among its students. Ashcroft said he wasn’t aware the school had such a policy.
THE OLD SOUTH: In a 1998 interview with Southern Partisan magazine, Ashcroft described Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson as “patriots” whose heritage was worth defending. Critics say his choice of words reveals an insensitivity toward the history of slavery and an outdated stance on race relations. “The left is free to disagree with his ideology, but don’t impugn John Ashcroft’s well-deserved good name by attributing racism to him,” says Susan Muskett of the Christian Coalition of America.
