The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: coretta scott king
Sessions Confirmed As Attorney General After Fierce Battle With Democrats

Sessions Confirmed As Attorney General After Fierce Battle With Democrats

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bitterly divided U.S. Senate confirmed Republican Senator Jeff Sessions on Wednesday as the next attorney general of the United States after strong pushback from Democrats concerned about his record on civil rights.

Sessions, 70, who has served two decades in the Senate from Alabama, was confirmed by a 52-47 vote largely along party lines after Democrats raised public opposition to his confirmation.

In a rare move for a senator recently confirmed to a Cabinet position, Sessions took to the floor of the chamber after the vote and called for members of Congress to have some “latitude” in their relationships with members of the other party.

“I want to thank those who after it all found sufficient confidence to confirm me as the next attorney general,” Sessions said.

“Denigrating people who disagree with us, I think, is not a healthy trend for our body,” he said, referring to the Senate.

On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a darling of the political left, was silenced in the Senate for reading a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King, the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., that criticized Sessions for his civil rights record.

Democrats, civil rights, and immigration groups have voiced alarm about Sessions’ record of controversial positions on race, immigration and criminal justice reform.

With Sessions as attorney general, eight of President Donald Trump’s 22 Cabinet nominees have been confirmed.

The Republican-led Senate also voted on Wednesday to advance Representative Tom Price’s nomination to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Senate is likely to vote to confirm Price on Friday.

TRUMP JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Sessions, a known immigration hardliner, will take the lead of the Justice Department as its lawyers are defending Trump’s temporary entry ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries and all refugees, the most controversial executive order of the young administration.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is due to rule this week on whether to overrule a district court judge in Seattle who suspended the ban last week.

Civil rights groups worry that the Justice Department’s civil rights division will not be aggressive in prosecuting abuses under Sessions.

They cite his failure to win Senate confirmation to become a federal judge in 1986 because of allegations he made racist remarks, including testimony that he had called an African-American prosecutor “boy,” an allegation Sessions denied.

Sessions said at his hearing in 1986 that groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union could be considered “un-American.” He also acknowledged he had called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a “piece of intrusive legislation.”

The left-leaning Center for American Progress think tank questioned whether Sessions would be an independent legal voice to challenge Trump’s agenda.

“Trump has shown little respect for the courts or the constitutional limits on his power, and there is no reason to think that Attorney General Sessions will act as an independent check on the president,” said Michele Jawando, vice president for legal progress at the think tank.

Sessions has pushed to curb immigration into the United States, including by those who enter legally on work permits.

He has also voted against many measures to reduce sentences for prisoners.

The Republican National Committee pushed back against what it called “obstructing” by Democrats.

“That Democrats would try to skew Sessions’ strong civil rights record and consistent adherence to rule of law in a partisan effort to block their colleague’s nomination shows their only commitment is to blindly obstructing this administration,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on Sessions’ confirmation.

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington, Emily Stephenson in Baltimore and Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

IMAGE: Donald Trump sits with U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., October 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Try As They Might, Senate Republicans Cannot Silence Elizabeth Warren

Try As They Might, Senate Republicans Cannot Silence Elizabeth Warren

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Silenced on the Senate floor, Democrat Elizabeth Warren took her criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee out to the hallway — and found much larger platform.

Republican senators voted on Tuesday evening to end Warren’s reading of a letter written 30 years ago by Martin Luther King Jr’s widow that criticized Senator Jeff Sessions, the nominee to lead the Justice Department, for his civil rights record.

The action prompted a tide of support on Facebook for Warren, a darling of the political left, under a hashtag #LetLizSpeak” after she went outside the chamber and read the letter in a video posted on the site that drew more than 5 million views by Wednesday morning.

“The Republicans took away my right to read this letter on the floor – so I’m right outside, reading it now,” she said.

The unusual rebuke of Warren came after the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday cleared the way for confirming Sessions as attorney general. A final vote was expected on Wednesday.

Warren took to the Senate floor to argue against the nomination, reading the letter Coretta Scott King wrote in 1986 about Sessions to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which ultimately rejected his nomination to be a federal judge.

Sessions had “used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens” when he prosecuted voting fraud cases when he was the U.S. attorney in Alabama,” according to the letter read by Warren.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cut her off, saying that she broke a Senate rule that “impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama.” Senators voted 49-43 to silence Warren.

Warren has been a fiery critic of Trump since he launched his presidential campaign. Democrats have expressed concern about Sessions’ record of controversial positions on race, immigration and criminal justice reform.

“Mr. President, I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate. I ask leave of the Senate to continue my remarks,” the Massachusetts senator responded.

Many civil rights and immigration groups also have concerns about Sessions with the American Civil Liberties Union saying his positions on gay rights, capital punishment, abortion rights, and presidential authority in times of war should be examined.

Sessions was a federal prosecutor in 1986 when he became only the second nominee in 50 years to be denied confirmation as a federal judge. This came after allegations that he had made racist remarks, including testimony that he had called an African-American prosecutor “boy,” an allegation Sessions denied.

Sessions said he was not a racist, but he said at his hearing in 1986 that groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union could be considered “un-American.” He also acknowledged he had called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a “piece of intrusive legislation.”

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington and Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Frances Kerry)