Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama has been tapped by Donald Trump as his new Attorney General. The Republican Senator has a long and complex record, and that may be a problem for him.
The Huffington Post reports that more than 1,300 law professors, representing roughly 180 law schools, oppose the appointment of Sessions to this key administrative position.
Senator Jeff Sessions was rejected for a position as a federal judge back in 1986 because of evidence of explicit racism.
The law professors have written an open letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking them to oppose the appointment. They cite the Senator’s record of having prosecuted three civil rights advocates for “voter fraud” in Alabama in 1985. They referenced his behavior prior to the 1986 hearing, where he was reported to have referred to a black attorney as “boy” and to have used the term “race traitor” to talk about a white attorney who represented black clients.
The professors are urging the Committee to reject Sessions. They wrote:
“Nothing in Senator Sessions’ public life since 1986 has convinced us that he is a different man than the 39-year-old attorney who was deemed too racially insensitive to be a federal district court judge.”
In addition to Sessions’ problematic history with race relations, the professors also mentioned the fact that he does not believe in climate change. They talked about his belief that there has been widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections, although there is no evidence to support that view.
They are also very concerned about the fact that Senator Sessions has worked within the legislature to limit the rights of LGBTQ Americans. He has worked to limit health services for women.
The law professors said:
“The Attorney General is the top law enforcement officer in the United States, with broad jurisdiction and prosecutorial discretion, which means that, if confirmed, Jeff Sessions would be responsible for the enforcement of the nation’s civil rights, voting, immigration, environmental, employment, national security, surveillance, antitrust, and housing laws. As law faculty who work every day to better understand the law and teach it to our students, we are convinced that Jeff Sessions will not fairly enforce our nation’s laws and promote justice and equality in the United States. We urge you to reject his nomination.”
These professors of law, more than thirteen hundred of them, believe that appointing Senator Jeff Sessions to the position of U.S. Attorney General would damage the legal rights of millions of Americans.
Predictably enough, the Republican spokespeople who responded to the letter referred to the writers as “far left academics.”
None of this bodes well for the rights of Americans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c87XapwSFI8
Featured image via YouTube Screengrab.
