Defense Of Sessions For A.G. Rebutted

Click here for an interesting article at Daily Kos by Mark Sumner, entitled "Supporters are selling lies about Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III." (I'm not sure I like the use of Sessions' full name by his opponents -- he was purportedly named after Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard -- it strikes me as being similar to Obama detractors referring to him as "Barack Hussein Obama." How about just "Jeff Sessions"?)

Anyway, the article is about charges of racism being leveled against Sessions. I have read a number of statements by Republicans attempting to refute such charges that were raised at the time of his federal court nomination in 1986, anticipating his Senate confirmation hearing as Trump's Attorney General. Some of these appear to be incorrect -- or "lies," as the Daily Kos puts it. In an article (click here) by Mark Hemingway in the Weekly Standard, it is claimed:

As a U.S. Attorney he filed several cases to desegregate schools in Alabama. And he also prosecuted Klansman Henry Francis Hays, son of Alabama Klan leader Bennie Hays, for abducting and killing Michael Donald, a black teenager selected at random. Sessions insisted on the death penalty for Hays. When he was later elected the state Attorney General, Sessions followed through and made sure Hays was executed. The successful prosecution of Hays also led to a $7 million civil judgment against the Klan, effectively breaking the back of the KKK in Alabama.

According to the Daily Kos article, the assertion that Sessions filed several cases to desegregate Alabama schools is untrue; and investigator Keven Kruse could find no evidence that Sessions was involved in the Hays case at all; it was prosecuted by Tom Harrison, Assistant DA in Mobile, and it was Harrison who pushed for the death penalty.

More after the jump.


The article points out that while Sessions did indeed campaign against the racist Lurleen Wallace (wife of George Wallace) for governor -- a fact I've seen several times presented as proof that Sessions was not racist -- he was actually campaigning for Jim Martin, who was also an outspoken racist and segregationist.

Something I don't like about Democratic objections to Sessions' appointment is that they almost all center on his rejection by a Republican judiciary committee -- it didn't even make it to the floor for a vote by the full Senate -- when he was nominated by Reagan in 1986 to be a federal court judge. That was 30 years ago. Okay, that's fine; but a man's views can change in 30 years. I'm more interested in knowing how Sessions has voted and what he has said in the time since he was elected to the Senate in 1996.

Of course, being a staunch conservative, Sessions has taken a wide variety of far-right positions. Here are some of them, some of which, taken in sum with the rest of his total record, one might find disqualifying.

According to his Wikipedia entry, he has been the leading congressional opponent of illegal immigration and proponent of reducing legal immigration.

He was an outspoken supporter of the catastrophic decision to invade Iraq. Speaking of war protesters, he said:

"The group who spoke here the other day did not represent the American ideals of freedom, liberty and spreading that around the world. I frankly don't know what they represent, other than to blame America first."

Here's a lovely political position for you:

On October 5, 2005, Sessions was one of nine Senators who voted against a Senate amendment to a House bill that prohibited cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment of individuals in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government.

On civil forfeiture, which opponents say is frequently abused and amounts to theft by law enforcement officers:

Sessions has been a strong supporter of civil forfeiture, the government practice of seizing property when it has allegedly been involved in a crime.[57] Sessions opposes "any reform" of civil forfeiture legislation.

On W's disastrous tax cuts:

Sessions voted for the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, and said he would vote to make them permanent if given the chance.

On stimulus spending (which, in my opinion, is the best way to boost the economy when unemployment is high, interest rates are low, and crumbling infrastructure definitely needs repair):

Sessions opposed the $837 billion stimulus bill, calling it "the largest spending bill in the history of the republic."[67] In late 2011 he also expressed skepticism about the $447 billion jobs bill proposed by President Obama, and disputed the notion that the bill would be paid for without adding to the national debt.

On energy and the environment:

Sessions is skeptical of the scientific consensus on climate change. He has voted in favor of legislation that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases. He has voted to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.[citation needed] The League of Conservation Voters, a pro-environment advocacy group, gave him a lifetime score of 7%. Sessions is a proponent of nuclear power.

Sessions, of course, has opposed even the consideration of Merrick Garland, Obama's appointment to the Supreme Court to replace the late Antonin Scalia, effectively stealing Obama's court appointment and awarding it to Trump.

As a liberal, of course I'm not happy with Sessions' appointment. We'll see how much support and how much opposition he gets from his Senate colleagues when his hearing comes up. (I wonder how many people have been rejected for more than one federal appointment ...)