BACKGROUND
Ashcroft, as Attorney General, heads the U.S. Department of Justice, the cabinet agency responsible for enforcing the law, controlling crime and ensuring fair and impartial justice for all Americans. The department manages the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Attorneys and Special Prosecutors who prosecute the government's cases. Ashcroft has been a governor and a one-term senator from Missouri. In his bid for re-election in 2000, he was defeated by Mel Carnahan, who had died during the campaign.

PREMISE OF THE SUIT
SPADES are members of President George W. Bush's Administration, either Cabinet members or Advisors. The departments they lead implement the rules and policies established by the Administration as well as by the laws passed by the U.S. Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate. They are in power as appointees of the President who is in office because of the choices made in the 2000 Presidential election by the voters and the U.S. Supreme Court.

LINKS
www.whitehouse.gov/government/cabinet.html