Jeff Sessions
Jeff Sessions is Attorney General.
- Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III grew up in Hybart, AL (two hours north of Mobile) Small town with 10 houses, K-12 rode bus for white kids only. School was segregated. Father ran country store & Sessions helped out and played football (small but tenacious linebacker). 1981 Reagan appointed him US Attorney in Mobile, prosecuted three black civil rights workers for voter fraud, zero convictions. 1986 Reagan tapped him for federal district court judge. "During confirmation a Justice Department lawyer alleged that Sessions had called the NAACP "Communist-inspired" and "un-American." One witness said Sessions once referred to a white civil rights lawyer as a "disgrace to his race." And a black prosecutor who worked closely with him testified that Sessions had called him "boy." Sessions denied all of this at the hearing." He was voted down. His defining issue today is immigration today. He opposes a legal path to citizenship, backs Trump's plan for a wall and supports limiting legal immigration to protect American jobs. (NPR)
- Popular in Alabama. Aside from his first election he has never won with less than 59 percent of the vote and in 2014 he ran unopposed. (Washington Post)
- His voting positions on the issues (OnTheIssues.org)
- Received $35,750 from the NRA to vote against gun reform (US Uncut)
- voted to expand the health coverage of fetuses at the expense of their mother's coverage. (MotherJones)
- Sessions is co-sponsoring the euphemistically named bill, S.1598 - First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which will roll back LGBT rights in housing, employment, health care, and protections against violence and opposed reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. (Forbes)
- Human Rights Campaign report on Sessions (HRC)
Timeline
| 1981 | Jeff Sessions calls a white attorney a "race traitor" for defending black clients in a voting rights case. nytimes.com |
| 1985 | Then U.S Attorney Jeff Sessions attempts to prosecute civil rights activists claiming they had committed voter fraud by helping elderly black people register to vote. washingtonpost.com A judge and jury found the Civil Rights Activists hadn't violated any laws. |
| 1985.07.05 | Jeff Sessions unsuccessfully tries to prosecute a former aid to Martin Luther King along with two others for helping elderly black people vote. washingtonpost.com The trio if convicted would face up to 150 years in prison. |
| 1986.03 | Sessions admits that he called the NAACP "un-American" and an assistant U.S attorney testifies he said, "You know the NAACP hates white people; they are out to get them. That is why they bring these lawsuits, and they are a commie group and a pinko organization as well." npr.org |
| 1986.03 | Sessions gives testimony that conflicts with previous testimony on whether or not he made racist statements. npr.org |
| 1986.03.19 | the widow of Martin Luther King send a letter to the Senate calling Jeff Sessions a racist. npr.org |
| 1986.05 | Sessions coworkers testify under oath that he refereed to black employees as, "boy" and commented about supporting the K.K.K cnn.com |
| 2000.05.18 | Jeff Sessions attacks the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. sessions.senate.gov (See also People with Disabilities) |
| 2013.06.20 | Jeff Sessions says its, "good news for the South" after the Supreme Court guts the Voting Rights Act. dailykos.com |
| 2014.06.11 | Sessions opposes a bill to fix delays in veterans healthcare, "calling it an entitlement we can not afford." reuters.com |
| 2014.08.16 | Sessions is Amnesty's worst enemy. Here is how he stopped comprehensive immigration reform. nationalreview.com |
| 2015.04.09 | This is the full text of an opinion piece by Jeff Sessions on why he believes America should restrict legal immigration. washingtonpost.com (See also Immigrants, Immigration) |
| 2015.10.05 | During a Breitbart interview Jeff Sessions praises The 1924 National Origins Act, a law passed in order to keep Jews and Asians out of the country as “good for America.” theatlantic.com (See also Immigration, Anti-Semitism, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans) |
| 2016.02.28 | Sessions endorses Trump for President, the first US Senator to do so. politico.com |
| 2016.07.14 | Sessions is loyal to Trump and defined by his attitudes on race and immigration. npr.org |
| 2016.11.18 | Crash course on Sessions. Ten things to know about the man who has been an advisor on almost every major Trump campaign decision. washingtonpost.com |
| 2016.11.18 | If confirmed as Attorney General Sessions could overhaul the Department of Justice. (The New York Times) nytimes.com |
| 2016.11.18 | NAACP releases a statement condemning Sessions's nomination for Attorney General. naacp.org |
| 2016.11.18 | Sessions's racially charged comments derailed his judicial nomination in 1986. npr.org |
| 2016.11.18 | The only recent time Sessions voted to expand health care was to cover fetuses at the expense of their mothers. motherjones.com |
| 2016.11.22 | Sessions fought against hate crime protections for the LGBTQ community. If confirmed as Attorney general he may undermine them. motherjones.com (See also LGBTQIA) |
| 2016.11.22 | Trump team falsely claims civil rights advocates support Sessions nomination. motherjones.com |
| 2016.11.23 | Autistic Self Advocacy Network statement on Sessions proposed nomination as Attorney General. autisticadvocacy.org |
| 2016.11.23 | Sessions record on education is drawing scrutiny. news.wgbh.org |
| 2016.12.01 | The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights releases a statement opposing Sessions confirmation. civilrights.org |
| 2016.12.02 | During his tenure as Alabama's attorney general Sessions launched a campaign to prevent a gay rights group from holding a conference at the University of Alabama. cnn.com (See also LGBTQIA) |
| 2016.12.05 | Disabled Americans are alarmed by Jeff Sessions, who once described the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as "the single greatest obstacle our educators face." teenvogue.com (See also People with Disabilities) |
| 2016.12.15 | The Boston globe lists 13 high ranking members of Trump's cabinet who are staunch opponents or who have fought against LGBT rights. bostonglobe.com (See also Homophobia, LGBTQIA, Presidential Transition, Mike Pence, Ken Blackwell, Nikki Haley, Michael Flynn, Ben Carson, Tom Price, Betsy DeVos) The individuals are, Mike Pence, Tony Perkins, Ken Blackwell, Kay Coles, Ken Klukowski, Ed Meese, Betsy DeVos, Tom Price, Jeff Sessions, Ben Carson, Michael Flynn, Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo. |
| 2017.01.04 | NAACP president among those arrested at the sit-in to protest Sessions nomination. washingtonpost.com |
| 2017.01.07 | Based on his known stances on guns, children's and elderly health, people with disabilities, LGBTQ, sexual assault, abortion, and veteran's health Sessions' nomination to Attorney General is one of Trump's most dangerous picks. forbes.com |
| 2017.01.09 | Ari Berman explains why Sessions is a ruthless opponent of voting rights. majority.fm The Nation's Majority Report podcast |
| 2017.01.09 | Jeff Sessions would put LGBT rights at grave risk if confirmed. lambdalegal.org (See also LGBTQIA) |
| 2017.01.09 | Khizr Khan, Gold Star father, calls Sessions "anti-Muslim" washingtontimes.com |
| 2017.01.09 | Matthew Shepard's mother urges senators to oppose Sessions, citing his opposition to hate crime legislation. cnn.com |
| 2017.01.09 | Sessions did not disclose his subsurface oil and mineral rights to land adjacent to a federal wildlife preserve in Alabama. This is a breach of federal ethics rules. washingtonpost.com |
| 2017.01.09 | The Donald case, in which two Ku Klux Klan members were investigated and punished while Sessions was a US attorney general, is often used by Sessions allies as an example of his civil rights record. But the details of the case don't support the role they say Session played. theatlantic.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Jeff Sessions has a long history of opposition to legal immigration, law enforcement reform, interrogation restrictions, and limits on surveillance. politico.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Jeff Sessions, who has supported the use of waterboarding as interrogation tactic, said current law makes it “absolutely improper and illegal.” nytimes.com (See also Constitutional Issues, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.01.10 | Key Moments from the first day of Sessions confirmation hearing (video) washingtonpost.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Key Points from Sessions confirmation hearings. theguardian.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Senate grills Sessions on KKK and bigotry in a hearing that was disrupted by protesters. theguardian.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Senator Feinstein grills attorney general nominee Sessions over reproductive rights. Senator Leahy pins him down on whether Trump's conduct on the Access Hollywood tape would be considered sexual assault. He said it was. nytlive.nytimes.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Senator Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Justice Department, once praised a 1924 immigration law whose chief author in the House once declared was intended to end “indiscriminate acceptance of all races.” theatlantic.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Department of Justice) "Trump’s pick for attorney general made the remarks during an interview with Breitbart’s Stephen Bannon, now an adviser to the president-elect." |
| 2017.01.10 | Senators test where Sessions will enforce and limit Trump during his hearing. time.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Sessions has spent his career opposing voters rights. What will he do if he is the most powerful lawyer in the country. thenation.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Sessions says he can stand up to Trump, he would oppose a ban on Muslims entering the country and enforce a law against waterboarding even though he voted against it. newsweek.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Sessions says he will recuse himself from any investigation into Hillary Clinton during confirmation hearings. chicagotribune.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Sessions says he will stand up to Trump if he tries to go beyond the law. nytimes.com |
| 2017.01.10 | This is the full text of Coretta Scott King's letter opposing the 1986 nomination of Jeff Sessions for a federal judgeship. washingtonpost.com (See also Black Americans) |
| 2017.01.10 | Trump A.G. nominee Jeff Sessions expresses doubt that a secular person can recognize "objective truth" as well as a religious person can. slate.com |
| 2017.01.10 | Trump's cabinet nominees donated money to senators responsible for reviewing their appointments. wsj.com (See also Conflicts of Interest, Trump Cabinet, Tom Price, Mike Pompeo, Dan Coats, Mike Mulvaney) |
| 2017.01.11 | Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. John Lewis and the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus warn the Senate that Sessions would “move this country backward" during the second day of his confirmation hearing. m.motherjones.com (See also Department of Justice, Black Americans) |
| 2017.01.11 | Sen. Lindsey Graham accuses NAACP of anti-GOP bias at Sessions confirmation hearing. washingtontimes.com (See also Black Americans) |
| 2017.01.11 | Senator Booker says the next Attorney General needs more empathy than Sessions possesses. washingtonpost.com |
| 2017.01.11 | Senator Cory Booker will make history as the first seated Senator to testify against a fellow senator in the Sessions confirmation hearings. cnn.com |
| 2017.01.11 | Toomey backs Sessions for Attorney General, despite growing protests at his Philadelphia offices. phillymag.com (See also Department of Justice) |
| 2017.01.11 | What Sessions confirmation hearings reveal about Trump's priorities. bbc.com |
| 2017.01.24 | Trump expected to sign several executive orders restricting immigration from Syria and six other Middle Eastern or African countries on Wednesday January 25. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security) |
| 2017.01.25 | This is a transcript of ABC News anchor David Muir’s interview with President Trump. abcnews.go.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico Wall, NAFTA, Trade, John Kelly, DACA, Voter Fraud, James Mattis, Mike Pompeo, Iraq, Infrastructure, Affordable Care Act, Muslim Immigration Ban) This is a transcript of ABC News anchor David Muir’s interview with President Trump on Jan. 25, 2017. |
| 2017.01.30 | Acting attorney general Sally Yates writes to Justice Department lawyers, describing ‘solemn obligation to seek justice and stand for what is right’, and instructs them not to defend Trump migration order and Trump fires her three hours later. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Muslim Immigration Ban, Assaults on Government, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.01.30 | Trump’s hard-line actions have an intellectual godfather: Jeff Sessions washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice, Nationalism, Immigration, Trade, Jared Kushner, Rick Dearborn) "Bannon described Sessions as “the clearinghouse for policy and philosophy” in Trump’s administration, saying he and the senator are at the center of Trump’s “pro-America movement” and the global nationalist phenomenon." |
| 2017.02.01 | U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee votes to advance Senator Jeff Sessions's Attorney General nomination to the full Senate. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.02.07 | Jeff Merkley reads Coretta Scott King's letter about Jeff Sessions on Senate floor, unrebuked by Republicans, after Republicans prevented Elizabeth Warren from reading it. oregonlive.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.02.08 | ACLU vows to sue Sessions if he violates Constitution as attorney general. thehill.com (See also First 100 Days, Assaults on Civil Liberties, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.02.08 | In an extraordinarily rare move, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell interrupts Warren's speech, saying she breached Senate rules by reading past statements against Sessions from the late senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and the late Coretta Scott King. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Assaults on Government, Assaults on Civil Liberties) Warren will be unable to take the floor for the duration of the Jeff Sessions debate. |
| 2017.02.08 | In silencing Sen. Warren, a new feminist rally cry born: 'Nevertheless, she persisted' chicagotribune.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.02.08 | Jeff Sessions confirmed as attorney general despite controversies. theguardian.com (See also Department of Justice, First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.08 | Million-name petition urges Senate to deny Jeff Sessions confirmation. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.02.08 | The Senate uses an arcane unenforced rule to stop Elizabeth Warren from reading a 1986 letter written by the wife of Martin Luther King calling Jeff Sessions a racist. cbsnews.com |
| 2017.02.13 | Sessions's hardline stance on youth incarceration at odds with public's views. theguardian.com (See also Department of Justice) |
| 2017.02.15 | Given the evidence that voter identification laws suppress minority voting, how will Jeff Sessions's Justice Department deal with these laws, in Texas and elsewhere? washingtonpost.com (See also Department of Justice, Voter Suppression, Assessment) |
| 2017.02.16 | All nine Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats call on Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from any Justice Department invesitgations into Trump-Russia communications and Russian interference in the 2016 election. feinstein.senate.gov (See also Department of Justice, Russian Meddling in Election, First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.16 | Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats request that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuse himself from any investigations into communications between Trump team's and Russia, and that the White House counsel, Department of Justice and FBI preserve materials relevant to those contacts. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Michael Flynn, Russian Meddling in Election) |
| 2017.02.22 | According to three Republicans with knowledge of the situation, Betsy DeVos wanted to keep protections for transgender schoolchildren in place but was overruled by Trump and Jeff Sessions. slate.com (See also Betsy DeVos, LGBTQIA, Department of Education, First 100 Days, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.02.23 | Attorney General Jeff Sessions reverses an Obama-era directive to stop using private prisons. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.02.23 | Trump's administration on rescinds federal rules that allowed transgender students to use the bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity. mobile.nytimes.com (See also LGBTQIA, Betsy Devos, Department of Education) |
| 2017.02.27 | Sessions falsely claims legalized marijuana is causing, "real violence" across the United States. snopes.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.28 | Jeff Sessions claims legal cannabis causes violent crime despite lack of any evidence. independent.co.uk (See also Department of Justice, Drugs) |
| 2017.03.01 | Justice Department officials say Attorney General Jeff Sessions, charged with leading investigation into Russian interference in U.S. election, lied under oath about contact with Russian ambassador in 2016 while he was part of Trump's campaign team. washingtonpost.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Corruption, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.03.03 | Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) shoots down a Democratic push for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to return to the Senate's Judiciary committee to discuss his conversations with the Russian ambassador. thehill.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.03.03 | The Trump campaign's national-security policy representative for the Republican National Convention, J.D. Gordon, admits that he pushed to alter an amendment to the GOP's draft policy on Ukraine at the Republican National Convention last year to further align it with President Donald Trump's views. businessinsider.com (See also Russia, Ukraine, Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2017.03.04 | Before leaving for Mar-A-Lago for the weekend, Trump summons senior staff to the Oval Office and goes "ballistic" over Sessions's decision to recuse himself from portions of any investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign election, and then, after the meeting, leaves Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus behind in D.C. abcnews.go.com (See also First 100 Days, Russian Meddling in Election, Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon) |
| 2017.03.10 | ACLU files ethics complaint against Sessions over communications with Russian ambassador. His denial that he communicated with them violates Alabama's rules of professional conduct for lawyers. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.03.10 | Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeks resignation of 46 United States attorneys because they were hired by the Obama administration. bigstory.ap.org (See also Department of Justice) WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeks resignation of 46 United States attorneys remaining from prior administration. |
| 2017.03.10 | U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions abruptly asks the remaining 46 chief federal prosecutors left over from the Obama administration to resign, including Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was asked to stay on in November by Trump. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice) |
| 2017.03.13 | Department of Justice asks for more time to respond to a request from lawmakers for evidence about Trump's allegation that then-President Barack Obama wiretapped him during the 2016 election campaign. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Justice, False Statements) |
| 2017.03.15 | Jeff Sessions Goes says marijuana is "only slightly less awful" than heroin. rollingstone.com |
| 2017.04.04 | The Trump administration signals that it may back out of federal agreements that force police departments to curb racial bias and excessive force. apnews.com (See also Department of Justice, Black Americans, First 100 Days) |
| 2017.06.06 | Attorney General Jeff Sessions offered to resign from his post in recent weeks, amid tension with Donald Trump over his decision to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. wsj.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Legal Activity, Corruption) |
| 2017.06.06 | The day after Trump asked FBI director James B. Comey to end an investigation into his former national security adviser, Mr. Comey confronted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and said he did not want to be left alone again with the president, believing Mr. Sessions should protect the F.B.I. from White House influence. nytimes.com (See also Michael Flynn, Russian Meddling in Election, Legal Activity, Corruption) |
| 2017.06.08 | Philip Allen Lacovara, a former U.S. deputy solicitor general in the Justice Department, says James B. Comey placed President Trump in the sights of a federal criminal investigation, laying out evidence sufficient for a case of obstruction of justice. washingtonpost.com (See also Legal Activity, Unpresidential Behavior, Corruption, Jared Kushner, Russian Meddling in Election) |
| 2017.06.09 | Former FBI Director James Comey told senators in a closed hearing Thursday afternoon that Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have had a third interaction with Russia's ambassador to the US. cnn.com (See also Russia) |
| 2017.06.16 | The senior Justice Department official with ultimate authority over the special counsel's probe of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 election has privately acknowledged to colleagues that he may have to recuse himself from the matter, which he took charge of only after Attorney General Jeff Sessions' own recusal. abcnews.go.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Trump Relationship with Russia, Legal Activity) |
| A lawsuit in the 1990s had Alabama poised to fund poor black school districts as fairly as wealthy white schools. As attorney general Jeff Sessions helped kill it. propublica.org (See also Department of Justice) |
Analysis
Though most of the focus has been on Sessions' history of racism, Sessions has been one of the Senate's most vocal anti-immigration proponents. He has taken a stance against immigration bills providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and fought to slow the pace of legal immigrants "so that wages can rise, welfare rolls can shrink and the forces of assimilation can knit us all more closely together." He has also stated that President Obama's Justice Department flouted the will of Congress by failing to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The Los Angeles Times cites hiring tougher immigration judges, stepping up prosecutions of low-level immigration-law violations, and cutting off law enforcement funds to cities that don't cooperate with a harsher immigration policy as just three steps Sessions could pursue as Attorney General.
Assessments
Eliana Johnson — The National Review
On Aug. 6, 2014, discussed Sessions record on immigration
Sessions, 67, is a low-profile guy. Though he is not well known nationally, he has for years now been the instrumental force in quashing repeated attempts to pass comprehensive immigration reform. He has a gentle, almost grandfatherly quality, but he doesn’t shy away from combat. He derided the 2007 bill as “no illegal alien left behind”; in a single press conference, he blasted it as a “colossal error,” an “absolute scandal,” and a “fiscal disaster.” He declared: “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Frank Sharry — America's Voice
Executive Director of America’s Voice Education Fund, Frank Sharry, on Jan. 9, 2017, said:
Anyone who votes to confirm Sessions as Attorney General must realize they would then own every action he takes in office.”
- 2016.11.18 Sessions as Attorney General is an insult to Justice. (Op-ed The New York Times)
- 2016.11.21 Sessions fought for Alabama's unconstitutional inequitable school funding which continued a legacy of separate and unequal access to education particularly for poor and disabled Alabama students. (New York Times)
- 2017.01.09 Sessions was too extreme for Republicans in 1986. Is he too extreme today? (Vermont Press Bureau)
- 2017.01.11 Sessions fights for Racist outcomes. Who cares what is in his heart? (Slate)