Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq, is urging lawmakers not to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE (R-Ala.) as attorney general.

“I am writing to urge you, out of respect for the American values enshrined in the Constitution, not to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions to be attorney general of the United States,” he wrote in a Monday letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleySenate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Senators offer disaster tax relief bill Trump spikes political football with return of Big Ten season MORE (R-Iowa) and ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel FeinsteinSenators offer disaster tax relief bill Democrats back away from quick reversal of Trump tax cuts Congress must save the Postal Service from collapse — our economy depends on it MORE (D-Calif.).

“Thirty years ago, a bipartisan group of senators rejected Mr. Sessions’ nomination to be a federal judge,” Khan added. "His record since then does not give us any reason to believe that those senators were in error. Mr. Sessions has confirmed their concerns and raised additional ones.

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“The most minimal standard for leading the Department of Justice must be a demonstrated commitment to pursuing justice for all Americans. Mr. Sessions fails to meet that standard. Americans deserve better.”

Khan called on Republican senators to give Sessions a tough vetting, saying that an "incomplete and less than thorough hearing" would compromise their "moral authority in our legislative system."

“Mr. Sessions has defended proposals that would single Muslim immigrants out for discriminatory treatment on the basis of their religious beliefs,” he said in the letter. “[Sessions] has happily accepted awards from the most intensely anti-Muslim organizations and groups that spread the vile falsehood that Muslims cannot be loyal Americans. This is not the American way.”

Sessions’s confirmation hearing starts Tuesday and could be a contentious affair. Critics have attacked Sessions’s record on issues including criminal justice reform, voting rights and immigration.

Khizr Khan earned national prominence after a passionate speech over the summer at the Democratic National Convention about his son, Humayun Khan, a U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004.

The elder Khan waved his pocket copy of the Constitution and fiercely denounced then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBarr criticizes DOJ in speech declaring all agency power 'is invested in the attorney general' Military leaders asked about using heat ray on protesters outside White House: report Powell warns failure to reach COVID-19 deal could 'scar and damage' economy MORE’s rhetoric about Muslims.