WASHINGTON ― Why shouldn’t Sen. Jeff Sessions be the next attorney general of the United States?
His colleague and the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), had a whole list of reasons, and she laid them out Tuesday in a polite yet scathing denunciation of the Republican from Alabama.
Feinstein noted that Sessions argued vehemently against a resolution that said people should not be barred from the United States based on their religion; that he voted against banning torture; that he twice opposed letting the children of undocumented immigrants stay safely in the country; that he voted against three bipartisan immigration bills; and that he voted against the Matthew Shepard hate crimes law, saying he didn’t see discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The broader issue Feinstein was raising was that Sessions will be bringing his outlook to serve President-elect Donald Trump ― and many Americans are deeply troubled that someone with Sessions’ record will be in charge of enforcing laws for a man whose election, Feinstein said, has inspired widespread alarm.
“There is a deep fear about what a Trump administration will bring in many places, and this is the context in which we must consider Sen. Sessions’ record,” Feinstein said.
