Civil rights leaders savage Sessions

Civil rights groups reacted with alarm Friday to President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as his nominee for attorney general.

“The choice of Senator Sessions to lead the Department of Justice is more than deeply unsatisfactory; it is a blatantly inflammatory act in a time of heightened focus on violence and injustice against communities of color,” said Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice, a coalition of civil rights advocacy organizations. “Sessions’ history of racist rhetoric, insults and persecution is well-known, and put a swift end to his nomination for a federal judgeship years ago. ... The proposed nomination of this person as a candidate for this position is a shocking gesture of hostility toward millions of Americans, and should be immediately rejected.”


In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions to a federal district court seat in his native Alabama. During a contentious confirmation hearing, Sessions was confronted with claims from colleagues that he had made racist remarks, but he denied having done so. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted down his nomination, 10-8, marking only the second time the panel had rejected a judicial nominee in half a century.

Liberal Trump opponents also jumped into the fray on Friday morning, blasting Sessions over the racial allegations from three decades ago as well as his Senate record on issues such as immigration and civil rights.

“The handful of people who might be even less equipped than Jeff Sessions to dispense justice on behalf of the American people typically spend their weekends wearing pointy hats and burning crosses,” Democracy for America's Charles Chamberlain said in a statement. “Jeff Sessions was too racist to become a federal judge. In the 1980s. The idea that Jeff Sessions might become Attorney General is a genuine threat to our country and the lives and safety of people of color, Muslim Americans, women, and working families.”

Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Trump’s team is confident that Sessions will win confirmation in front of the same Senate panel that turned him down for a judgeship 30 years ago.

“Sen. Sessions is someone who is universally respected across party lines in the U.S. Senate,” Miller told reporters on a conference call Friday. “We feel very confident that Sen. Sessions has the background and the support to receive confirmation.”

The Trump spokesman also sought to rebut some of the criticism of Sessions’ civil rights record by noting that he filed several desegregation lawsuits while he was U.S. attorney for the Southern district of Alabama and voted in favor of the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 2006. Miller also pointed to Sessions’ vote to confirm President Barack Obama’s nomination in 2009 of the first African-American attorney general, Eric Holder.

Miller also noted that one late senator who voted against Sessions in 1986, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, later called that vote “a mistake” and praised Sessions as a colleague.

In a statement Friday announcing the planned nomination, Trump declared that Sessions has great stature in the legal community.

“Jeff has been a highly respected member of the U.S. Senate for 20 years. He is a world-class legal mind and considered a truly great Attorney General and U.S. Attorney in the state of Alabama,” the president-elect said. “Jeff is greatly admired by legal scholars and virtually everyone who knows him.”

Sessions’ formal statement on his nomination made no mention of his aggressive advocacy on polarizing issues like immigration or his endorsement of Trump’s call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton's use of a private email account while at the State Department.

“My previous 15 years working in the Department of Justice were extraordinarily fulfilling. I love the Department, its people and its mission. I can think of no greater honor than to lead them,” Sessions said. “I enthusiastically embrace President-elect Trump’s vision for ‘one America,’ and his commitment to equal justice under law. I look forward to fulfilling my duties with an unwavering dedication to fairness and impartiality.”

Senate Democrats struck a cautious tone on Sessions’ nomination, raising some concerns about his record, but pledging fair consideration.

“The attorney general should be above the political fray — our laws absolutely must apply equally to all Americans if we’re to have confidence in them,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who’s expected to be the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee starting in January.

“The attorney general has jurisdiction over many crucial laws and must discharge his or her duties regardless of personal views. These include enforcing civil rights and voting protections, prosecuting hate crimes and firearm violations, protecting women’s health clinics and upholding the constitutional right to marriage equality,” Feinstein added. “While many of us have worked with Sen. Sessions closely and know him to be a staunch advocate for his beliefs, the process will remain the same: a fair and complete review of the nominee. While Sen. Sessions and I differ on a great many issues, I am committed to a full and fair process."

Top Republicans said they didn’t need to wait for a hearing to offer their support.

“Sen. Sessions has broad law enforcement experience at both the state and the federal levels, and in both the executive and the legislative branches. I am confident he will help get the Justice Department back on track,” Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said. “Having served with Sen. Sessions for many years on the Judiciary Committee, I look forward to supporting his nomination and working closely with him on important initiatives in the months ahead.”

Sessions served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama for 12 years during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. He was later elected the state’s attorney general. In 1996, he won a U.S. Senate race, assuming the seat he has held for the past two decades.