LIBBY QUAID

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A Missouri Supreme Court judge will take the extraordinary step next week of testifying in Congress against John Ashcroft, President-elect Bush's choice to head the Justice Department.

A spokesman for Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Judiciary Committee Democrat, said Judge Ronnie White agreed to testify in a conversation Tuesday with Leahy. Opposition from Ashcroft, then a senator from Missouri, scuttled White's nomination to the federal bench.

Hearings will start Tuesday and last several days, with White's testimony planned Thursday, said spokesman David Carle.

Meanwhile, liberal groups announced plans Tuesday to work together against Ashcroft. His foes include advocates of gun control, abortion rights, gays and lesbians and the environment, many of whom also opposed Ashcroft during his five statewide races in Missouri.

"John Ashcroft's views on a range of issues that would be the subject of his work as attorney general are simply too extreme," said Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. The former GOP senator and governor, Henderson added, "should not be invested with the responsibility of guaranteeing justice for all."

A Republican coalition, working to blunt criticism of Bush's Cabinet picks, derided the liberal opposition. "For these groups, anyone to the right of Ted Kennedy would be considered too extreme," said coalition spokesman Keith Appell.

Tough questioning awaits Ashcroft, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said.

"In his case, it's primarily a question of whether Senator Ashcroft is able to enforce laws that he has publicly disagreed with," Daschle said.

Grass-roots efforts are under way to call, e-mail and write U.S. senators, the anti-Ashcroft groups said during a news conference Tuesday, and an NAACP-sponsored protest is being planned in Washington.

Complaints include Ashcroft's staunch opposition to abortion, as well as his successful effort to scuttle the federal judgeship nomination of White, the first black jurist on Missouri's high court.

"When George Bush considers appointments to the Supreme Court and turns to his attorney general for help, what names do we think that a John Ashcroft would offer?" asked Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

"His record clearly indicates that he would point the way toward those nominees who would overturn Roe v. Wade," she said, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.

A spokeswoman for the Bush transition team, Mindy Tucker, countered that Bush is seeking no such move.

"President-elect Bush has already said he does not think the country is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade and that he wants to pursue legislation that both sides can agree on," Tucker said. Among that legislation, she said, are measures to promote sexual abstinence, to require parental notification before a teen-ager has an abortion and to ban a late-term procedure that critics call partial-birth abortion.

"It's not surprising these liberal special interest groups had a news conference to announce that they share different beliefs from John Ashcroft," Tucker said. "What they can't disagree with is that this is one of the most qualified attorney general nominees our country has ever had."

Ralph Neas, president of the liberal advocacy group People For the American Way, called Ashcroft "the worst executive branch nominee I have ever seen" and added: "The Ronnie White episode alone disqualifies him."

Neas noted Ashcroft accepted an honorary degree and gave the commencement speech at Bob Jones University, which until recently opposed interracial marriage and dating.

"George W. Bush apologized for going to Bob Jones," Neas said. "John Ashcroft sent a Christmas card saying it was one of the highlights of his year."

Ashcroft's fight against White led Democrats and civil rights groups to accuse Ashcroft of being insensitive to minority issues. Ashcroft objected to White because he said the judge was soft on the death penalty and was "pro-criminal."

He and his supporters have defended his record on diversity, which includes placing the first woman on Missouri's highest court and the first black judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City.

Ashcroft's defenders include the Issues Management Center, formed by conservative activists to counter criticism of Ashcroft and other Bush nominees. The center is targeting the Missourian's chief Senate critics, beginning with radio ads later this week against Democrat Charles Schumer of New York, who will meet Friday with Ashcroft.

Meanwhile, an Ashcroft ally, Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, said Ashcroft assured him during a 45-minute meeting Tuesday "that he will uphold the laws of the nation, including those with which he disagrees." Jeffords performs with Ashcroft in the Singing Senators quartet.

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