Pubdate: Thu, 11 Nov 2004
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2004 Detroit Free Press
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

ASHCROFT II

Important Questions for Attorney General Nominee

The resignation of John Ashcroft as attorney general of the United States 
would be welcome had not President George W. Bush appointed a replacement 
Wednesday who is cut from the same cloth.

White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, long rumored to be on the president's 
short list for the Supreme Court, has exhibited some of the same disdain 
for civil liberties displayed by Ashcroft.

The outgoing attorney general was the primary author of the U.S.A. Patriot 
Act -- including its provisions to seize library records and gag librarians 
from alerting patrons that the government was interested in their reading 
list. Ashcroft's standard response to civil libertarian critics was "Treason!"

In pursuing hospital abortion records, he challenged the confidentiality of 
doctor-patient relations, and he crusaded against medical marijuana and 
assisted suicide even as his office was botching a much-ballyhooed 
terrorism case in Detroit.

Ashcroft's presumptive successor, subject to Senate confirmation, called 
the Geneva Conventions "quaint" when he wrote that the United States could 
waive protections for prisoners of war. Some condemn that February 2002 
memo for helping create the climate that led to the abuses at the Abu 
Ghraib prison. Gonzales also stood behind the policy of detaining some 
terrorism suspects for extended periods of time without letting them visit 
lawyers or launch court challenges. The Supreme Court effectively cut down 
that policy this summer.

With Republicans solidly in control of the Senate, Gonzales can expect to 
be confirmed. But Democrats must raise these critical issues during the 
hearings. They should not be cowed if Bush tries to paint them as 
anti-Hispanic for challenging his nominee to this critically important post.
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