U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, President Trump’s pick to be the next Attorney General of the United States, a key cabinet position of great importance, is unusually well qualified for the job. I have no doubt that he will be approved by his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee and confirmed by the entire Senate. I am aware that there are some who have expressed doubts about Sen. Sessions, apparently on the basis of vague allegations of racism.

Perhaps those allegations arise because of mere partisan animus, or maybe because he was born in Selma, Ala., the site of great conflict in the civil rights era of the sixties. But the ever-deepening and widening partisan divide, which seems to be driving us all to opposite poles, is never a reason to stereotype anyone, or to assign unwarranted charges of racism to an honorable man. Racism in Jeff Sessions? That is certainly not the Jeff Sessions I know.

I have only talked to Jeff three or four times since he has been in the Senate, but in 1981, we were both appointed United State Attorneys by President Ronald Reagan — Jeff Sessions, for the Southern District of Alabama, and me for the District of Wyoming. Jeff and I served together on the 15-member Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys for a few years, but more than that, we worked together on the five-to-seven man Law Enforcement Coordinating Sub Committee for about ten years. During those years, we would meet and interact several times a year with the goal of improving the relationship between federal law enforcement agencies on the one hand, and state and local agencies on the other. We were highly successful in that endeavor.

I interacted frequently with Jeff, and In all that time, I never heard him say anything that could even remotely be construed as racist. That’s just not who he is. We did discuss, on a few occasions, the terrible circumstances of the Jim Crow South in which he, and many millions of others, grew up. He had nothing good to say about that time, and indeed he praised the civil rights movement of the sixties as absolutely essential to the unification of America.

While he was United States Attorney and later Attorney General of Alabama, Jeff helped to desegregate Alabama’s schools and to prosecute Ku Klux Klansmen who murdered a black man. Hardly the actions of a racist.

I know Jeff to be a kind, caring and polite man who is concerned about the dignity of every human being, regardless of race or creed. As Attorney General he will encourage vigorous, but fair law enforcement — without regard to race, creed or political affiliation.

In doing so, he will uphold the Constitutional protections most vital to our freedom: The 5th and 14th Amendment provisions guaranteeing to all Americans, in every state, the equal protection of the laws — and preventing any state, or the federal government, from attempting to deprive anyone of life, liberty or property without the due process of law.

These provisions, the most vital in our Constitution, are crucial to protecting of our civil rights. I know that we can count of Jeff Sessions to scrupulously uphold them. It is simply not in his nature or temperament to fail to enforce them. Jeff believes very strongly in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He believes, as I do, that the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses provide the very fabric of our freedom and of our national character.

So can we trust Jeff Sessions? I think we can — and I truly believe that he will be a great Attorney General.

Richard Stacy, of Denver, served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming for 13 years under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

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