Sessions confirmed as attorney general after contentious debate
Published February 08, 2017
Sen. Jeff Sessions won confirmation Wednesday evening to become the next
attorney general of the United States, capping a Senate fight so contentious
that one of the nominees biggest critics was forced by majority Republicans
to sit out the last leg of the debate.
The Senate narrowly approved the Alabama Republicans nomination on a 52-47
vote, the latest in a series of confirmation votes that have been dragged
out amid Democratic protests. One Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia,
joined Republicans in voting to confirm Sessions. Sessions himself voted
present.
In his farewell address Wednesday evening, Sessions urged his erstwhile
colleagues to get along better following days of bruising debate.
"We need latitude in our relationships," Sessions said. "Denigrating people
who disagree with us is not a healthy trend for our body."
President Trump has accused Democrats of obstructing the confirmation
process, though the Senate will turn next to votes on the presidents picks
to lead the health and treasury departments.
Sessions became just the sixth Cabinet nominee approved by the Senate,
joining Trump's choices for Defense, Homeland Security, Education,
Transportation and State.
Wednesdays vote came after a rowdy overnight session during which Sen.
Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was formally chastised for allegedly impugning
Sessions integrity on the floor.
Warren had read a letter authored in 1986 by Coretta Scott King, who was
against Sessions nomination at the time to the federal bench, arguing he
used the power of his office to chill black voting rights. Warren also
quoted the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who originally had entered Kings
letter into the record, describing Sessions as disgraceful.
GOP Senate leaders said Warren had violated Senate rules and should lose her
speaking privileges. In a remarkable scene, the Senate then voted 49-43 to
suspend Warrens speaking privileges for the rest of the nomination process
the first time the Senate has imposed such a punishment in decades.
Democrats had repeatedly contended that Sessions is too close to Trump, too
harsh on immigrants, and weak on civil rights for minorities, immigrants,
gay people and women. Sessions was a prominent early backer of Trump, a
supporter of his hard line on illegal immigration and joined Trump's
advocacy of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"There is simply nothing in Senator Sessions' testimony before the Judiciary
Committee that gives me confidence that he would be willing to stand up to
the president," said Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt. "He has instead demonstrated only
blind allegiance."
Republicans argued Sessions has demonstrated over a long career in public
service, including two decades in the Senate, that he possesses integrity,
honesty, and is committed to justice and the rule of law.
"He's honest. He's fair. He's been a friend to many of us, on both sides of
the aisle," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on
Wednesday. "It's been tough to watch all this good man has been put through
in recent weeks. This is a well-qualified colleague with a deep reverence
for the law. He believes strongly in the equal application of it to
everyone."
The debate had been intensified by Sessions nomination to a federal
judgeship three decades ago, which was rejected by the Senate Judiciary
Committee after it was alleged that as a federal prosecutor he had called a
black attorney "boy" and had said organizations like the NAACP and the
American Civil Liberties Union were un-American.
At his hearing last month, Sessions said he had never harbored racial animus
and claimed he had been falsely caricatured.
Before Wednesday's vote, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the Senate's lone black
Republican, offered a personal and passionate defense of Sessions. He spoke
of his personal experiences in introducing the Alabama Republican to
African-American pastors at a racial forum in Charleston.
And he read the statements of black Alabama Democrats vouching for Sessions,
who as attorney general will be the nation's top law enforcement official.
Scott said the South is still working through racial differences and said
"Jeff Sessions has earned my support and I will hold him accountable if and
when we disagree."
Scott read messages in which he was called an "Uncle Tom" -- and worse --
and said that "as I read through some of the comments of my friends on the
left, you will wonder if I ever had an experience as a black person in
America."
"I just wish that my friends who call themselves liberals would want
tolerance for all Americans."
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
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