If you're wondering how Attorney General Jeff Sessions would use his powerful perch to defend civil rights, here's a telling example from Andrew Kaczynski:

As Alabama's attorney general in 1996, Sessions attempted to stop the Southeastern Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual College Conference from meeting at the University of Alabama under a state law passed in 1992 that made it illegal for public universities to fund in any way a group that promotes "actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws." The stated mission of the Southeastern Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual College Conference was to educate and start a dialogue about the LGBT community. Scheduled events at the conference included a workshop on coming out, an interfaith panel of LGBT issues, a discussion on preventing STDs, and discussions on the Internet and substance abuse.

After a university spokesperson reminded Sessions that the gathering was protected free speech under the First Amendment, Sessions doubled down.

At a news conference reported by multiple news outlets at the time, he said he might try to get a court order to stop the conference. Several days later, a federal judge struck down Alabama's 1992 law as unconstitutional.

Sessions was defiant.