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107. Ashcroft was appointed by Bush shortly after losing his seat as the incumbent Senator from Missouri to Mel Carnahan. Carnahan was deceased at the time of his victory, making Ashcroft the first US Senator to lose an election to a dead man. 108. On the day that his wife passed away, art professor Steven Kurtz had his house taken over by the US Joint Terrorism Task Force. Kurtz was charged under the Patriot Act-modified US Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act. When Feds couldn't make the charges stick, they convicted him of mail fraud. "Professor Is Indicted Over Procuring Biological Materials for Art", NY Times, Jul. 1, 2004 109. "U.S. officials drop activist subpoenas. Judge lifts Drake gag order in probe of anti-war protest" Des Moines Register, Feb. 11, 2004 110. "U.S. Demands More Abortion Records" Washington Post, Feb. 27, 2004 111. Greenpeace USA was under threat of being declared a criminal organization at the behest of the US Attorney General, under an obscure law that has been invoked only twice in its 130 years on the statute books - the last time was more than 100 years ago. "Ashcroft Fishes Out 1872 Law in a Bid to Scuttle Protester Rights" Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2004. A Federal Judge in Miami has since dismissed the government's case. 112. CNN, Feb. 23, 2004
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