Ashcroft Among the Senators: Justification, Strategy, and Tactics in the 2001 Attorney General Confirmation Hearing

Abstract

This essay explores justification in the 2001 Attorney General confirmation hearings. It argues that the hearings were a public fiction of deliberation that allowed the Senators to justify their support for or opposition to nominee John Ashcroft. After discussing the panel's argument, the paper indicates that power positions play a strong role in the kinds of justifications used. The arguments made in the confirmation hearing show that the Democrats on the panel used tactics of justified opposition and that the Republicans used a strategy of justified support to support Ashcroft. Implications for the study of justification in public argument are provided.