11/09/2004: US Attorney General Lifeandliberty.gov">John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans have submitted their resignations to US President George Bush, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. The announcement on Tuesday came just a week after the election, providing the first answer to questions about what changes would occur in the makeup of Bush's cabinet for his second term. Other members of the Bush cabinet who are also expected to leave their posts in the next four years are Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is 72 years old. MoveOn is part of a months-long campaign that is calling on Bush to Fire Rumsfeld
John Ashcroft is an evangelical christian and an amateur musician. He is a former Governor of Missouri and US Senator. He lost his Senate seat in 2000 to a dead man, Mel Carnahan, but in consolation, Bush appointed him to the Attorney General position.
In a statement today, NARAL Pro-Choice America said "John Ashcroft's resignation is the first major test of whether President Bush meant what he said last week about uniting Americans...John Ashcroft changed the Attorney General's job description from law enforcement to ideological warfare. He attempted to invade Americans' personal privacy in innumerable ways. He aggressively defended the federal abortion ban that three federal courts have declared unconstitutional and unenforceable, going so far as to subpoena the private medical records of thousands of women relating to their abortion care. As part of these efforts, he stated that patients no longer have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their medical records. Ashcroft's Justice Department also argued in favor of a state abortion ban that clearly endangers women's health. Even after promising at his confirmation hearing to uphold Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, Ashcroft never stopped trying to roll back the right to choose."

In his resignation letter, Ashcroft said, "I take great personal satisfaction in the record which has been developed. The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved. The rule of law has been strengthened and upheld in the courts. Yet, I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration."