Democrats See an Ashcroft ‘Confirmation Conversion’

Embattled attorney general nominee John Ashcroft withstood a grueling second day of testimony Wednesday as Senate Democrats accused him of soft-pedaling some of his conservative stances on abortion, gun control and other issues to make them more palatable.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who had refrained from sharp criticism, told Ashcroft that, given his years on the “far right,” she was “deeply puzzled” by his newfound respect for ensuring that women can get into abortion clinics and for upholding a ban on assault rifles.

“It’s very hard to change your stripes,” Feinstein said. “I see a kind of metamorphosis going on. . . . Quite frankly, I don’t know what to believe.”

But concerns about what some called a “confirmation conversion” did not appear likely to do lasting damage to President-elect George W. Bush’s controversial nominee.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee convened in a room that was the site of hearings in 1912 on the Titanic disaster, several Democrats worked vigorously to sink Ashcroft’s nomination. But they also acknowledged that he is likely to be confirmed.

Among those testifying at the hearing were two black congresswomen, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), who opposed Ashcroft based upon his civil rights record.

As partisan bickering grew more volatile, Republicans accused their Democratic colleagues of distorting Ashcroft’s record. And Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said he was amazed that Ashcroft could “remain so cool and thoughtful” in the face of relentless questions on abortion, civil rights and other issues on which his record is controversial.

If anything, Ashcroft’s pledges of support for abortion rights were even sharper Wednesday than on the first day of his Senate confirmation hearings.

A passionate opponent of abortion, Ashcroft said Wednesday that he would not want his solicitor general to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning Roe vs. Wade, which established the right to abortion. Doing so could hurt the credibility of the Justice Department, he said, because “the Supreme Court very clearly doesn’t want to deal with that issue again.”

Ashcroft also pledged not to use opposition to abortion as a litmus test in deciding which judges he would recommend for Supreme Court openings.

“The answer is clear: No litmus test. I think [Bush has] stated that clearly and that would be my position,” Ashcroft said.

In both Missouri and Washington, Ashcroft has sought for years to outlaw abortion and to establish that life begins at conception, making him one of the prime foes of abortion rights activists.

Feinstein said during a break in the hearing that she had never been involved in a confirmation hearing at which there was such a stark contrast between a nominee’s past record and his future pledges.

Democratic Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the committee until Saturday, also spoke to reporters about Ashcroft’s “confirmation conversion.”

“Sen. Ashcroft took hard-edged positions in the past. You go from that John Ashcroft, who took previous oaths of office, to his now saying he’s a much-changed person,” he said. Leahy declined to say if he believes Ashcroft.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Ashcroft that “my jaw almost dropped” when Ashcroft talked about his respect for Roe vs. Wade. The question of how Ashcroft’s thinking has evolved, Schumer said, “gnaws at me.”

But while Ashcroft struck a conciliatory tone on the abortion question, he refused to repudiate two of the most racially incendiary episodes from his record: his now-controversial appearance in 1999 at Bob Jones University, which at the time banned interracial dating. And his interview with a neo-Confederate magazine called Southern Partisan in which he praised the Southern “patriots” of the Civil War.

In a heated exchange, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) told Ashcroft that repudiating those two episodes could go far in easing the concerns of blacks and others about Ashcroft’s nomination.

“People are suspect not because they believe you are a racist . . . but because they believe your ideology blinds you to an equal application not just of the law but of the facts,” Biden said.

Ashcroft, however, declined to bend.

He told Biden that “slavery was abhorrent” and said, “I repudiate racist organizations and racist ideas.” But he said he did not have enough information to know whether Southern Partisan is racially offensive, as Biden and others maintained.

“What more do you need to know?” asked Biden, appearing exasperated.

Ashcroft also would not rule out the possibility of visiting Bob Jones University again as attorney general, despite the school’s controversial policies toward minorities and Catholics.

“It depends on what the position of the university is, what the reason for the invitation is, what I might be able to achieve,” he said.

He did, however, pledge to continue several initiatives started by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno that are being closely watched by black groups.

Fighting racial profiling and studying possible racial disparities in federal death sentences would continue to be priorities in his administration, Ashcroft said.

And Ashcroft said that he sees “no reason not to go forward” with a civil rights investigation into possible voting-rights abuses in Florida in November’s election.

Asked about his opposition in 1997 to an ambassadorial nominee who is openly gay, Ashcroft insisted that he knew the man and “I did not believe he would effectively represent the United States.”

Denying that he voted against James C. Hormel, a San Francisco philanthropist, because of his sexual orientation, Ashcroft told the committee: “I will not consider sexual orientation in matters involving hiring or firing.”

After a two-year battle waged by conservatives against Hormel’s nomination, in June 1999, President Clinton used his power to make a recess appointment to name Hormel ambassador to Luxembourg.

Ashcroft also shed light on his thinking regarding a number of other key issues likely to come before him as attorney general.

Asked about the recent wave of proposed airline mergers, Ashcroft said he would study the antitrust implications because the consolidations could pose “a serious problem.”

“In the absence of competition, I think you have very serious problems with [airline] rates,” he said.

He also said he would support the continuation of a ban on assault rifles, a measure sponsored by Feinstein in 1994 in response to a wave of gun violence in California.