Sessions ‘uniquely ill-fitted to serve’

DEEP: CONCERNS OVER NEW ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S MURKY PAST

Senators cite his lack of independence and anti-civil rights stance as red flags.

The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Jeff Sessions as attorney-general despite fierce debate about his civil rights record and Democratic concern over whether he serves as the nation’s top law enforcement officer independent from President Donald Trump.

“Congratulations to our new attorney-general,” Trump tweeted shortly after the vote.

Sessions, seen as an inspiration for Trump’s anti-immigration policies, is just the sixth of 15 Cabinet members to be confirmed, in addition to the Cabinet-rank positions of CIA director and US ambassador to the United Nations.

He takes charge of the justice department and its 113 000 employees amid a swirling legal debate over Trump’s most controversial White House action to date, an executive order temporarily blocking all refugee arrivals and immigration from seven mainly Muslim countries.

With Trump using Twitter to bully a judge who rolled back the ban, and an appeals court weighing whether to reinstate it, debate over Sessions grew acrimonious and personal.

But on Tuesday night, it turned ugly.

Senator Sherrod Brown expressed concern about Sessions in light of Trump’s recent executive order.

“We need an attorney-general who will be an independent voice beholden to the constitution and the American people, not the president,” Brown said.

The genteel Sessions, who like the president is 70, was an early loyal Trump supporter who became a pivotal figure in his campaign. Shortly after his confirmation, he sought to assuage concerns about how he would run the department.

“I fully understand the august responsibilities of that office,” he said. But Senate Democrat Chris Murphy expressed concern, saying he was “scared” about changes Sessions could bring.

“Sessions’ history of opposing civil rights, anti-gun violence measures and immigration reform makes him uniquely ill-fitted to serve as attorney-general,” Murphy said.

“I want a chief law enforcement official who will be a champion of the disenfranchised and dispossessed, not a defender of discrimination and nativism.” –

I’m scared about the changes he could introduce.