The burden will be on Mr. Ashcroft to demonstrate that he can move beyond his record and his views to enforce the laws fairly and impartially.
And Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York questioned whether Mr. Ashcroft could put aside his strong anti-abortion views to enforce laws ensuring women the right to obtain an abortion.
Several of them said they planned to question him on issues like civil rights and abortion, expressing concern about whether he would be able to set aside his strong conservative views to enforce laws he has criticized.
"That gives us hope that as a pro-choice senator that he will look at Ashcroft's record, stand on principle and realize that this man is too extreme in his views to enforce the laws as attorney general".
Such an international force had been in Sierra Leone before the accord of last July, and if it returns it would be a signal that regional forces are viewed as better suited to enforcing the peace than inexperienced United Nations troops, several administration officials said.
Phil Trounstine, a California-based political consultant and analyst who has known Panetta for years, says of him, "Here's a guy who has been very critical of the Bush world view, who has to enforce a new set of guidelines and policies by leading the same agency and the same people as in the past".
And what I would like to know is your determination, putting aside your own views, your resoluteness to enforce the sacrosanct provisions, the freedom of religion of the First Amendment.... MR. ASHCROFT -- Well, first of all, I am committed to the right of individuals to worship freely, in accordance with the dictates of their own conscience, or not to worship at all.
Critics have portrayed Mr. Ashcroft as unsuitable for the job as the nation's top law enforcement officer because, they assert, he is unwilling to subordinate his conservative views to the need to enforce the law in areas he disagrees with.
We also know that religious authorities no longer enjoy as much authority to persuade, much less to enforce views and opinions, particularly on issues of private morality in a culture that has become decidedly more relativistic and self-focused.
The Huntsville Advocate asserted, "This is a white man's government and a white man's state," and the Ku Klux Klan used terror to enforce that view.
