Judiciary committee approves Sessions for AG
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Feb 2, 2017
During the Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Sen.
"The Senate Judiciary Committee needs to have a delay", he said. Clearly, Trump did not agree.
The reinvigorated opposition to Sessions was led by Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who had been rumored to be leaning "yes" just days earlier.
President Trump's executive order on immigration has sparked a fire across the U.S.
Jeff Sessions is going to be the next attorney general, but he can not get there through the complicity of Democrats.
"I asked Sen. Sessions to commit to stand up for women and preserve these critical programs", Leahy said in his prepared remarks.
As for Judge William Pryor of Mobile, who was also under consideration by the President, Byrne said, "It is my hope that he would be selected in a future opportunity".
"These are damnably false charges", Sessions said this month.
Franken said he wanted to set the record straight and complained that his integrity had been abused.
Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Yates was sacked after she refused to defend Trump's executive order temporarily banning refugees and immigrants from seven mostly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a vote on Sessions has not been placed on the Senate calendar. The report by MSNBC relays the biggest question on the minds of Democrats, can someone who played such a huge role in Trump's candidacy demonstrate that same type of independence at the Justice Department?
Until yesterday, Sally Yates was the United States' acting attorney general, a post she was filling while Sessions gets confirmed. The White House accused Yates of betraying the Department of Justice.
The committee vote on Sessions fell strictly along party lines - 11 to 9 with Democrats questioning if the Alabama Senator would stand up to President Trump, especially on matters of immigration. He said he would abide by Supreme Court decisions on abortion rights and legalized same-sex marriage, although he opposes both. On Monday, Yates believed she was following that obligation. Senators voting for Sessions should hold him to the same standard.
The allegations that Sessions harbors racial bias - the same allegations that cost him a federal judgeship 30 years ago - continued to dog his road to confirmation this time around.
Sessions' allegiance to Trump, his hard-line immigration positions and civil rights record came under scrutiny during his 10-1/2-hour hearing before the committee on January 10.
