Alabama Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions — now known simply as Jeff — is poised to clean house as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for attorney general, with a mandate to carry out the “law and order” agenda Mr. Trump promised on the campaign trail. If he is confirmed, Mr. Sessions, who is considered one of the most conservative members of the Senate, will most likely push for wholesale changes and hard-line stances on immigration, terrorism, crime, drugs and guns. Democrats fear he could wipe away progress in civil rights, changes in sentencing and police accountability.
@EricLichtblau The New York Times
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions—then serving as a United States attorney in Mobile, Alabama—to be a federal district court judge. At a time when confirmation was a given, Sessions’ nomination stalled, then failed after testimony from those around him revealed a man with a dim view of black Americans. According to one federal prosecutor, reports the New York Times, Sessions suggested that a prominent white lawyer was a “disgrace to his race” because he’d represented black clients. Sessions had also referred to the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP as “un-American” for “trying to force civil rights down the throats of people.” Another prosecutor, this one black, testified that Sessions had called him “boy” and joked that the Ku Klux Klan was “OK until I found out they smoked pot.” According to the Times, “Sessions denied calling the lawyer ‘boy’ but acknowledged or did not dispute the substance of the other remarks.”
@jbouie Jamelle Bouie is Slate’s chief political correspondent.
There is no other way to describe Jeff Sessions but as a career racist. In February, Sessions was the first sitting senator to endorse Trump. And following Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” remark, the future top prosecutor in the country said, “I don’t characterize that as sexual assault.”
@alicesperi Alice Speri is a multimedia journalist with an interest in justice, civil rights, and the struggle for equality.
Considering his history and his position as the most anti-immigrant, white supremacist sympathizer in the US Senate, it makes sense that Trump would choose him. Sessions is a perfect grey eminence. He’ll do for domestic authoritarian police power and racist government policy what Dick Cheney did for military adventurism and neoconservative national security policy.
@digby56 Heather Digby Parton, also known as "Digby," is a contributing writer to Salon. She was the winner of the 2014 Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism.
"He has consistently opposed the bread-and-butter civil rights agenda.” @HilaryOShelton Hillary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau
@EricLichtblau The New York Times
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions—then serving as a United States attorney in Mobile, Alabama—to be a federal district court judge. At a time when confirmation was a given, Sessions’ nomination stalled, then failed after testimony from those around him revealed a man with a dim view of black Americans. According to one federal prosecutor, reports the New York Times, Sessions suggested that a prominent white lawyer was a “disgrace to his race” because he’d represented black clients. Sessions had also referred to the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP as “un-American” for “trying to force civil rights down the throats of people.” Another prosecutor, this one black, testified that Sessions had called him “boy” and joked that the Ku Klux Klan was “OK until I found out they smoked pot.” According to the Times, “Sessions denied calling the lawyer ‘boy’ but acknowledged or did not dispute the substance of the other remarks.”
@jbouie Jamelle Bouie is Slate’s chief political correspondent.
There is no other way to describe Jeff Sessions but as a career racist. In February, Sessions was the first sitting senator to endorse Trump. And following Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” remark, the future top prosecutor in the country said, “I don’t characterize that as sexual assault.”
@alicesperi Alice Speri is a multimedia journalist with an interest in justice, civil rights, and the struggle for equality.
Considering his history and his position as the most anti-immigrant, white supremacist sympathizer in the US Senate, it makes sense that Trump would choose him. Sessions is a perfect grey eminence. He’ll do for domestic authoritarian police power and racist government policy what Dick Cheney did for military adventurism and neoconservative national security policy.
@digby56 Heather Digby Parton, also known as "Digby," is a contributing writer to Salon. She was the winner of the 2014 Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism.
"He has consistently opposed the bread-and-butter civil rights agenda.” @HilaryOShelton Hillary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau
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