We're going to protect and honor the Constitution, and I don't have the authority to set it aside.... If I had the authority to set it aside, this would be a dangerous government, and I wouldn't respect it.

If America is to be great in the future, it will be if we understand that our source is not civic and temporal, but our source is godly and eternal.

Civilized people - Muslims, Christians and Jews - all understand that the source of freedom and human dignity is the Creator.

[Ashcroft vowed to] spare no effort to preserve the rights of all our citizens to pledge allegiance to the American flag.

For the first time in a long time, our leaders in Washington understand what Americans of all religious backgrounds have long held to be true: through faith, all things are possible.

Every medium by which people communicate can be subject to exploitation by those with illegal intentions. Nevertheless, this is no reason to hand Big Brother the keys to unlock our e-mail diaries, open our ATM records, read our medical records, or translate our international communications.

People who commit crimes should be responsible for those crimes. It doesn't matter whether they're priests or ministers or atheists.