January 9, 2001
The National Organization for Women opposes confirmation of attorney general nominee John Ashcroft and states confidently, without any need to distort his record, that John Ashcroft is soft on the Constitution.
Ashcroft is soft on equal rights for women and the rights to free speech and to petition the government. He used his position as attorney general of Missouri to try to advance his political agenda by denying NOW's constitutional right to call for a boycott of states which had not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment.
Ashcroft is soft on the right to privacy, especially the rights to birth control and abortion. His opposition to reproductive rights is so extreme that he has urged a ban not only on abortion (even in cases of rape and incest), but also some of the most effective forms of birth control.
Ashcroft is soft on the separation of church and state. He advocates giving public funds, including monies for public education, to church-run programs, without adequate protection against proselytizing and discrimination in hiring and provision of services.
Others at today's news conference will address additional concerns we share about the Ashcroft nomination: his opposition to affirmative action, hate crimes legislation, and hand gun control; his praise for a white supremist publication and honorary degree from Bob Jones University; his opportunistic and disingenuous distortion of Judge Ronnie White's record for his own political advancement, so reminiscent of his decision to sue NOW over the ERA boycott.
The U.S. attorney general has an extraordinarily powerful and broad-ranging position. In setting law enforcement priorities for the Department of Justice, would John Ashcroft direct adequate attention to the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act or the Violence Against Women Act? Could the department under Ashcroft's leadership be counted on even to gather the statistics on hate crimes and violence against women?
In deciding what cases the department should appeal and on what grounds, in advising the president on nominees for federal court judges and Supreme Court justices, would Ashcroft seek to build or to dismantle civil rights, civil liberties, women's rights and reproductive freedom?
Based on Ashcroft's record we must regretfully answer all of these questions "no," and we must say "no" to John Ashcroft's nomination as Attorney General.