John Ashcroft: the Controversial Issues

— -- President-elect George W. Bush's nominee for attorney general, former Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri faces a tough confirmation hearing before the Senate this week.

And while Senate Republicans are predicting their one-time colleague will be confirmed, the hearings promise to become rancorous. In a career in public life during which he also served as both attorney general and governor of Missouri, Ashcroft has been involved in a number of controversial matters — enough so that a 200-member coalition of Democratic-leaning interest groups announced their opposition to his appointment last Tuesday.

Here is an overview of important issues that have become the center of attention as Ashcroft's hearings are set to begin.

Judgeships

Ronnie White's isn't the only nomination for a federal judgeshipthat experienced controversy involving Ashcroft, who wagedwell-publicized battles against other White House nominees.

In June 1995, a Jefferson City attorney who once sharplyquestioned Ashcroft, then state attorney general, in acourt-ordered deposition went public with assertions that Ashcroftwas nursing a decade-old grudge by opposing his nomination to thefederal bench.

Attorney Alex Bartlett was among six candidates chosen by anindependent commission in 1993 for President Clinton to considerfor two court vacancies in Missouri.

Bartlett said he was told by Clinton administration officialsthat Ashcroft was raising questions that centered on the oldlawsuit. The case, which Ashcroft brought as Missouri's attorneygeneral, charged Inland Oil with consumer fraud over a gasolineadditive. Bartlett was one of the attorneys for Inland Oil.

Bartlett said the problem revolved around a deposition taken ofAshcroft and other officials in the state attorney general's officein 1983, he said. Ashcroft objected to the deposition, but a courtordered that it be taken. At the deposition, Bartlett said Ashcroftdeclined to answer some questions and would not produce somedocuments related to the case. As those issues were being hashedout, the case was settled.