|
Institutional
Affiliations
National Governor’s
Association: Chairman (1991-1992) (3)
Federalist
Society: Member (5)
Republican
Governor’s Association: Chairman (1989-1990) (3)
National Association of Attorneys General: Chairman (1991) (1)
Southwest Missouri State University: Instructor of Business Law (1967-1972) (1, 4)
Government
Service
U.S. Department of Justice: Attorney General (2001-current) (1)
U.S. Senate: Missouri Senator (1995-2000) (2)
State of Missouri: Governor (1985-1993) (2); Attorney General (1976-1985) (2); Assistant Attorney General (1975-1976) (3); Auditor (1973-1975) (1, 2)
Education
Yale University: Bachelors degree (1)
University of Chicago: J.D. (1)
|
Highlights
& Quotes
As
the architect of the widely criticized U.S.A. Patriot Act, and as
one of the country’s leading proponents of increased government
surveillance powers, judicial secrecy, and military commissions
allowed to judge suspected enemy combatants anywhere in the globe,
Attorney General John Ashcroft has been the perfect domestic counterpart
to the Bush administration's war on terror and neo-imperial overseas
policies.
In a December 2001 speech at the National Press Club, Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs at the libertarian Cato Institute, highlighted the degree to which Ashcroft had alienated and antagonized the U.S. public and policy community in the months following 9/11 with his pursuit of draconian security policies and his belligerent attitude toward critics. (5)
Said Pilon: “It's a rare day in Washington when The Washington Post and The Washington Times agree editorially. Yet in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday, Attorney General John Ashcroft brought that about.
“The Washington Times tried honestly to credit Mr. Ashcroft, but in the end it was forced to conclude that, ‘despite Mr. Ashcroft's best efforts, the administration has failed thus far to make the case for military tribunals and keeping detainee's names secret.’ The Post, for its part, raised similar concerns, but focused primarily on what it called ‘The Ashcroft Smear’--the claim that critics of certain of the administration's policies are aiding and abetting the enemy--a smear Friday's New York Times criticized editorially as well.
“So what was it, exactly, that the attorney general said last Thursday that brought forth that confluence of opinion? It's worth quoting his remarks in full, for the sake of accuracy and, of equal importance, to communicate their tone:
To those who pit Americans against immigrants, and citizens against
non-citizens; to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms
of lost liberty; my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists--for
they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give
ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends.
They encourage people of good will to remain silent in the face
of evil.
“"The
problem with those assertions--made not in response to senatorial
questions, let me note, but as part of Mr. Ashcroft's prepared remarks--is
that every one is false." (5)”
|
