Copyright 2001 P.G. Publishing Co.
Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
January 16, 2001, Tuesday, SOONER EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL, Pg. A-6
LENGTH: 457 words
HEADLINE:
SPECTER FINDS NO FAULT SO FAR WITH ASHCROFT
BYLINE:
RACHEL SMOLKIN, POST-GAZETTE NATIONAL BUREAU
DATELINE:
WASHINGTON --
BODY:
Sen. Arlen Specter
plans to vote for John Ashcroft as attorney general and believes that the former
Missouri senator would uphold even those laws that conflict with his personal
views.
Specter, R-Pa, is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that
will review Ashcroft's nomination. As a moderate, abortion rights Republican,
Specter has been viewed as a possible swing vote by civil rights and other
liberal groups that hope to derail Ashcroft's nomination. "I've said publicly
that unless something comes up which is extraordinary, that I do intend to vote
for him," Specter said yesterday in a telephone interview. "I think that he will
be able to separate his own ideology from enforcing the law."
Hearings
on Ashcroft's nomination are scheduled to begin today.
Ashcroft, the
former senator who lost his November re-election bid, has ignited opposition in
the civil rights community for defeating the 1999 federal judicial nomination of
Ronnie White, a black Missouri Supreme Court justice. White, who will testify at
Ashcroft's hearing, lost in a party-line Senate vote. Ashcroft also has opposed
school desegregation plans in St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., and sponsored
legislation to criminalize abortion except when the mother's life is at risk.
Liberal groups hope to persuade a few moderate Republican senators to
join their cause. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on Fox News Sunday that he
did not expect any Republican defectors.
Specter said he had talked with
Ashcroft in "great detail" about enforcement of civil rights and
abortion laws. Specter cited Ashcroft's support of a
bankruptcy measure last fall that would prevent violent
abortion clinic protesters from filing for
bankruptcy to protect their assets against lawsuits.
"He cast a vote on the bankruptcy bill which pretty
solidly supports his commitment to enforce the abortion laws,"
Specter said. "It shows he doesn't have any tolerance for people that violate
the laws."
Specter said there was "nothing" to allegations that
Ashcroft's opposition to White was racially motivated.
"He has supported
a lot of African-American judges," said Specter, who served with Ashcroft on the
Judiciary Committee. "He has a very good record on that."
Specter also
said it was his understanding that Ashcroft's resistance to the school
desegregation plans was motivated by cost rather than philosophy.
Specter played a key role in defeating the 1987 Supreme Court nomination
of conservative appeals court judge Robert Bork. But Specter also provided a
crucial vote to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court in 1991 despite
opposition by liberal groups and allegations of sexual harassment raised by
former Thomas co-worker Anita Hill.
LOAD-DATE: January
16, 2001 
