Echoes of Ashcroft Heard at Solicitor General Hearing

The lawyer tapped by President Bush for a prestigious Justice Department post came under fire Thursday for his sharp conservative rhetoric, but he vowed that his politics would not color his reading of the law on abortion, affirmative action and other sensitive issues.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, were openly skeptical as they considered the nomination of Theodore B. Olson, a superstar Republican lawyer from Los Angeles whom Bush nominated in February to be U.S. solicitor general.

Although Olson appears virtually certain to be confirmed for the job, the debate Thursday echoed the bruising confirmation battle endured earlier this year by the man who would be Olson’s boss--Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft. Democrats also questioned whether Ashcroft is too politically minded for the job.

The 60-year-old Olson helped put Bush in the White House by successfully arguing before the Supreme Court that it should reject continued vote recounts in the Florida election battle. If confirmed as solicitor general, Olson would appear regularly before the Supreme Court to argue the federal government’s positions.

Olson, who appeared before the Judiciary Committee along with deputy attorney general nominee Larry D. Thompson, told committee members that he was “deeply touched and humbled” by the chance to serve as solicitor general.

Republican senators lavished him with praise. In the historic Bush vs. Gore case, “regardless of whatever side of that issue you’re on, you had to be impressed with his talent,” Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) said in introducing Olson.

But Democrats were far less flattering. They grilled Olson on everything from his membership in conservative organizations to his links to a Republican-funded investigative project and his critical writings about the ethics and politics of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Atty. Gen. Janet Reno.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she was troubled by the political invective of Olson’s work.

“Now, you’re somebody that’s going to go into a major position in the department that, hopefully, is going to evaluate things in an evenhanded way. Why should I believe that you will, when you don’t in your writing?” she asked.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) told Olson that although he respected his legal skills, “I can’t find any parallel in history of anyone who has been so actively partisan in his legal practice and then went on to be the solicitor general.”

Olson conceded that at times he should have been more restrained in some of his political language. And he said that given his writings about the “corrupt reign” of the Clinton administration, it would “probably . . . be appropriate to recuse myself” from any decisions in the solicitor general’s office directly affecting the Clintons.

But he vowed repeatedly to avoid improper political influences in deciding which cases to bring before the Supreme Court, what the government’s position should be and whether to join in private appeals. To do otherwise, he said, would cause the court to “lose respect” for the Justice Department’s legal arguments.

“I want to make it very clear that partisan interests--Republican, Democrat, those kind of political considerations that have to do with partisanship--should not be a part of the equation,” Olson said.

Liberals are worried that Olson would seek to promote a decidedly conservative agenda before the high court, trumpeting states’ rights and scaling back well-established civil liberties.

But Olson, backing Ashcroft’s position during his confirmation, said that he respects a woman’s right to an abortion as “the settled law of the land” and that “it is not my agenda to seek an opportunity to overturn [Roe vs. Wade].”

Olson said that he also would respect the Supreme Court’s rulings on another controversial subject, affirmative action, and that eliminating the disadvantages caused by racial discrimination is a critical interest for the nation.

Thompson, the nominee for deputy attorney general, met with far less critical questioning, and he appears likely to win unanimous approval for the No. 2 post at the Justice Department. A former federal prosecutor from Atlanta, Thompson said he wants to closely study racial profiling and the “racially neutral” imposition of the death penalty.

The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the Olson and Thompson nominations later this month.