Sessions Is Unfit to Be Attorney General

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee today will begin hearings to determine whether Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s selection for U.S. attorney general, is fit to head the Department of Justice. Sessions is expected to face tough questions about his history of racially discriminatory statements and of championing efforts to undermine the very principles an attorney general is expected to defend. His record of voting against policies to protect and uphold those principles in the Senate will likely also come under scrutiny.

Kamal Essaheb, policy and advocacy director at the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“The Justice Department has the responsibility to vigorously and vigilantly protect the rights and liberties of all Americans. At a time when racial tensions are high, hate crimes are on the rise, and white supremacists feel emboldened by the election of Donald Trump, we cannot entrust that to someone who has made a career of systematically marginalizing and disenfranchising African Americans, Muslims, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and women.

“Senator Sessions has a long history of denigrating the very rights he would have to defend as attorney general. The Senate Judiciary Committee must be resolute in holding him accountable. Sessions is simply the wrong choice.”

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