Copyright 2001 eMediaMillWorks, Inc.
(f/k/a Federal
Document Clearing House, Inc.)
Federal Document Clearing House
Congressional Testimony
January 17, 2001, Wednesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 774 words
COMMITTEE:
SENATE JUDICIARY
HEADLINE: TESTIMONY
U.S ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINATION
TESTIMONY-BY: ELEANOR
SMEAL , PRESIDENT
AFFILIATION: FEMINIST MAJORITY
BODY:
January16, 2001 Eleanor Smeal, President,
Feminist Majority John Ashcroft is a totally anti-choice, anti-women's rights
nomination for Attorney General. Not only did Ashcroft staunchly oppose the
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), as Missouri's Attorney General he filed suit
against the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1979. Ashcroft charged NOW
with anti-trust violations and attempted to break the ERA convention boycott of
unratified states. "John Ashcroft has been an ardent opponent of women's rights
for over 20 years," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority and
NOW President during the Ashcroft anti-ERA lawsuit. "His willingness to stretch
the law and use Missouri tax dollars to launch a three-year unsuccessful fight
against NOW and the ERA all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court foreshadows how
far he will go to fight and deny women's rights," added Smeal. "His utter lack
of understanding of freedom of political speech and the right to take political
action to achieve social justice exemplifies a track record where his right-wing
ideology prevails over his legal judgment." "President-elect Bush promised to be
a uniter and not a divider, yet Ashcroft's opposition to legal
abortion even in cases of rape and incest places him on the
extreme edge of the far right that opposes all women's rights advances," said
Smeal. As a U.S. Senator, Ashcroft did not support an amendment to the
Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999 that would have prohibited
anti-abortion extremists from using bankruptcy to discharge
civil judgments against them for illegal anti-abortion
activities. "Ashcroft's position undermines a critical enforcement mechanism of
the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which the Attorney General
is chiefly responsible for enforcing," continued Smeal. In addition to his
widely reported commencement address to, and honorary degree from, Bob Jones
University, Ashcroft's civil rights record falls far short of what must be
demanded of a 2l't Century Attorney General. In 1989 former President George
Bush appointed Ashcroft to a federal commission to study the obstacles faced by
minorities in America. Ashcroft was one of only two people on the 40-member
panel who refused to sign the final report. He thought the report's findings of
discrimination were far too negative and "counterproductive." "The Attorney
General must be able to recognize injustices in our society and work to remedy
them - he must neither rationalize, justify, nor run away from them," said
Smeal. "How can an Attorney General that believes Southern Partisan is setting
the record straight be able to lead in the enforcement of civil rights and
women's rights laws?" questioned Smeal.
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January 18, 2001, Thursday 
