WASHINGTON -- With the government's anti-terrorism legalstrategy under increasing scrutiny, Attorney General John Ashcrofttried to assure lawyers Saturday that the Bush administrationwelcomes oversight and is using new powers to make ''quiet steadyprogress'' in the terrorism fight.
The government so far has successfully fended off legalchallenges of its imprisonment of U.S. ''enemy combatants,''secrecy about immigrants arrested after the Sept. 11 attacks andthe detention of terrorism suspects in Cuba.
Ashcroft told a conservative lawyers group, the FederalistSociety, that the government is ''protecting the American peoplewhile honoring the Constitution and preserving the liberties wehold dear.''
But courts have yet to rule on constitutional challenges to ananti-terror law, the Patriot Act. Last week, the Supreme Courtmoved into the middle of the post-Sept. 11 debate, announcing thatthe nine justices would decide whether foreigners held at amilitary base in Cuba can contest their captivity in Americancourts.
Also this month, the Supreme Court asked the administration toexplain the secrecy surrounding the detention of one of theimmigrants arrested in Florida after the Sept. 11 attacks.
''There is no question the Bush administration wants more powerin the executive branch,'' said Robert Levy, a constitutionalexpert with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, whoattended the speech.
Ashcroft has mounted a public defense of the government'sresponse to the attacks, especially the Patriot Act. The law,enacted weeks after the attacks, expanded government surveillancecapabilities, toughened criminal penalties for terrorists andallowed greater sharing of intelligence information.
Ashcroft is trying to counter the effort to scale back the lawby critics, both Democrat and Republican, who believe it was rushedthrough while the country was in a panic after the attacks of Sept.11, 2001.
The attorney general said Saturday that the law gives courtsoversight to ensure that powers are not abused and that theadministration welcomes a ''bright light of inquiry'' on theissues.
Ashcroft's appearance came on the final day of the annualmeeting of the society, a 21-year-old influential lawyers groupwith about 30,000 members.
Hayley Reynolds, a Cornell Law School student, said she and manymembers of the Federalist Society are conflicted because theygenerally support the administration but worry about giving thegovernment too much power.
''Whatever their political leaning, people are concerned aboutcivil liberties,'' she said.
Ashcroft was warmly greeted by the several hundred lawyers whoattended his early morning speech.
He got in a poke at a liberal rival group, the AmericanConstitution Society, which held its first national meeting thisyear. Former Attorney General Janet Reno was one of the draws ofthe event, hosting a late night ''dance party'' for law studentsand lawyers.
''They let Janet Reno speak at a far more civilized hour,''Ashcroft said. ''How do you expect me to speak this morning andstill be fresh for a John Ashcroft dance party this evening?''
On the Net:
Federalist Society: www.fed-soc.org
American Constitution Society: http://www.ACSLaw.org/
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