The Fight for Justice

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t could be that Ashcroft's fate will turn on how many Democratic Senators want to teach the nominee a lesson about fair play and equal justice. White was by no means the only judge Ashcroft tripped up; Ashcroft was notorious for blocking all kinds of appointments, from the openly gay ambassadorial nominee James Hormel to Susan Oki Mollway, the first Asian-American woman to serve on the federal bench in Hawaii. In Hormel's case, Ashcroft's objections had nothing to do with his qualifications and everything to do with his lifestyle. Ashcroft would refuse even to meet with judicial nominees he opposed to hear their side of the story. "I have found him on a personal basis to be very cordial and courteous," says Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, who claims he hasn't yet made up his mind on how he will vote. "But when we have run into political differences, I have found him to be very rigid and inflexible."

Only a few Senators will talk about it openly, but the feeling runs strong among Democrats that what was good for their nominees may now be good for Ashcroft--even if he is ultimately confirmed. Senators traditionally respect a President's right to pick people who share his views; but, Democrats charge, that was one tradition Ashcroft did not honor himself. "Many of the pleas for fairness that will be made at his hearing were the same pleas that we made of him during the past few years when it came to judicial nominees," Durbin says. "You can understand why a lot of us are listening to these pleas for fairness with mixed feelings."

To talk with TIME correspondent Michael Weisskopf about the Ashcroft story, go to AOL live on Wednesday at 7 p.m. E.T.