John Ashcroft's First Year as Attorney General

In 2001, the Bush administration strongly supported H.R. 7, a bill that critics charge would divert billions of taxpayer dollars in social service spending to pervasively religious organizations and endorse government-funded discrimination. Before passage of that legislation, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., had expressed concerns over the constitutionality of the proposed measure.

Attorney General Ashcroft, himself the author of the limited "charitable choice" provision in the 1996 welfare reform bill as well as even more extensive legislation pushing that concept, contacted the legislator to try to convince him to support the Bush plan. Ashcroft was followed by Solicitor General Ted Olson, who serves as the Justice Department's top lawyer before the Supreme Court. Olson met with Sensenbrenner for two hours to convince him to change his mind.

As attorney general, Ashcroft will also play a crucial role in anticipated administration regulatory proposals to authorize more government social service funds to go to pervasively religious groups. For example, under the Clinton administration, the Justice Department indicated that while "charitable choice" funding could go to religiously affiliated groups like Lutheran Social Services or Catholic Charities, it could not go to pervasively religious groups that discriminate in hiring based on religion. The Ashcroft Justice Department has already signaled it will not follow that interpretation.