William Cummings

USA TODAY

President Trump’s newly confirmed attorney general, like much about the current administration, has Americans divided.

Sen. Jeff Sessions’ critics have attacked him as a racist. His supporters reject that characterization saying he will enforce the laws without prejudice. But that debate is merely prologue now that the Alabama senator has been confirmed as America’s 84th attorney general. From here he will be judged by his actions as the country’s top law enforcement official.

Here are five controversial issues where the Justice Department is likely to take a radically different approach under Sessions:

Immigration

Trump won’t need to worry about having to coax his new attorney general into enforcing his immigration ban. Sessions has cited a “clear nexus between immigration and terrorism” and said an increase in the admission of Syrian refugees “places the safety and security of the American people at risk." Sessions strongly favors the construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and believes immigrants, whether here legally or not, “must be deported promptly upon their conviction for criminal offenses.” He has been a fierce opponent of any immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship. As attorney general, Sessions will lead the Trump administration charge against sanctuary cities.

In his own words: “Without a commitment to deport aliens who violate our immigration laws, we lose our ability to protect our communities from criminal aliens, terrorism, and cartel-related crime and violence." -Oct. 31, 2016

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Voting rights

Jeff Sessions voted for renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 2006, but during the debate over the bill, he expressed reservations about Section 5, which required federal oversight of election laws in nine Southern states to protect minority voters. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to apply Section 5 only to those states. This means the Justice Department has more discretion in investigating voting rights cases. Civil rights advocates have expressed doubts that Sessions will make those cases a priority without that mandatory oversight. Sessions shares Trump’s fears of widespread voter fraud and is an advocate of voter ID laws, which critics say disproportionately disenfranchise minority voters.

In his own words: “I do believe we have voter fraud in America.” – June 10, 2012

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LGBTQ rights

Sessions called the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples had the right to marry “unconstitutional” and said he doesn't know how it "will play out in the years to come," but during his confirmation hearing, he agreed it was settled law. Sessions also opposed a 2003 Supreme Court decision striking down anti-sodomy laws, supported a Constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage, co-sponsored the First Amendment Defense Act protecting opponents of gay marriage from discrimination lawsuits and strongly opposed extending federal hate crime protections to homosexuals.

As attorney general Sessions will take over the Justice Department's lawsuit against North Carolina's so-called "bathroom bill" limiting protections for transgender people. Many expect Sessions to withdraw or revise the suit, which could impact whether the case goes before the Supreme Court.

In his own words: "Marriage is a fundamental institution and every state and federal legislature has limited it to a union of one man and one woman. This decision is an important part of our culture. Research has shown that children benefit from growing up in a traditional two-parent household. " — Feb. 26, 2004

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Marijuana legalization

As a senator, Sessions was an outspoken critic of marijuana legalization, and that has the budding industry nervous. Eight states have legalized recreational marijuana, as has the District of Columbia, and 29 states allow its medical use. The industry could be worth $21 billion within three years. Sessions could bring all that to a halt because pot remains illegal at the federal level. Polls show most Americans favor legalization, and during the campaign, Trump said he would leave the issue up to the states. Will Sessions – who once joked he thought the KKK was OK until he “found out they smoked pot” – keep that commitment? Time will tell, but he did offer a clue during his confirmation hearing when he said, "It is not the Attorney General’s job to decide what laws to enforce."

In his own words: “Good people don’t smoke marijuana.” – April 5, 2016

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Policing

The Obama administration investigated several police departments across the U.S. for potential civil rights abuses in the wake of high-profile cases such as the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo., and the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody. But under Sessions, who has said lawsuits against law enforcement agencies "undermine the respect for police officers," the Justice Department is expected to take a much less aggressive approach when it comes to officer-involved shootings.

A key test case will be Chicago — where Trump has threatened to "send in the feds" to stop the "carnage" — after a scathing Justice Department report cited the city's police for widespread racial bias, excessive use of force, poor training and poor oversight of officers. The city was negotiating a consent decree that would require independent monitoring to certify it is taking agreed upon steps to solve problems within the department. But Sessions has been highly critical of such decrees, calling them "dangerous" and an "end-run around the democratic process."

In his own words: "I think there is concern that good police officers and good departments can be sued by the Department of Justice when you just have individuals within a department that have done wrong." — Jan. 10, 2017

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