John Ashcroft's First Year as Attorney General

Ashcroft's Justice Department participated in preparing, and has publicly supported, a presidential military order authorizing secret military tribunals with extremely broad jurisdiction, no effective oversight, and the power to try, convict and execute suspects without appeal to any court. The order covers not only individuals captured on the battlefield but also an estimated18 million non-citizen residents of America. Tribunals would not be required to adhere to the standards of our own system of military justice or our civilian courts.

The order was issued without consultation with Congress, a recurring theme of the Ashcroft Justice Department. It created powers far more sweeping than administration officials initially acknowledged publicly and has caused alarm from across the political spectrum, including conservative commentator William Safire.

Defense Secretary William Rumsfeld has said publicly that the intense scrutiny given to the military order will help shape the regulations being written to implement the tribunals. There have been reports that the administration does intend to take some of the criticism into account in the implementing regulations, but such rules have not yet been released. And they would do nothing to change the order's overbroad assertion of power.