Ashcroft Confirmation Highlights Great Start.(Attorney General, John Ashcroft)(Brief Article)

Battered but unbowed, pro-life former Senator John Aschroft is now the Attorney General of the United States.

In winning Senate confirmation 58-42, Mr. Ashcroft weathered a barrage of scurrilous attacks reminiscent of the infamous 1987 offensive against Robert Bork which derailed his nomination to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

Fittingly, Ashcroft was sworn into office by Justice Clarence Thomas, who repelled a similar all-out assault launched in 1991 against his nomination to the United States Supreme Court.

Described by Senate Republicans as one of the most qualified nominees in history, Ashcroft's long and distinguished career was caricatured and distorted beyond recognition. His service in the Senate and his terms both as governor of Missouri and as its attorney general were ignored in a witch hunt intended to demonize a nominee loathed by Planned Parenthood and NARAL.

In the weeks leading up to the final vote, pro-abortion stalwart Ted Kennedy (D-Ma.) floated the idea of a filibuster. However, in the end Senate Democrats were content to lambast Ashcroft unmercifully two more times, first in committee, then on the floor of the Senate.

Ashcroft narrowly received approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is evenly divided among Democrats and Republicans. Pro-abortion Russ Feingold (Wi.) was the lone Democrat to vote for Ashcroft, making the January 30 committee vote 10-8. On February 1, Ashcroft picked up the votes of eight Democrats, winning confirmation by the full Senate 58-42.

Pro-abortion Democrats sought to take the confirmation that they were unable to stop and spin it into a victory. For example, Charles Schumer (NY) said the 42 nay votes were a "shot across the bow."