Jeff Sessions, nominee for Attorney General, is a 4 out of 5 on the Swamp-O-Meter. He has been an establishment politician for more than 20 years, is a multi-millionaire, and has a decades-long track record of racism, causing him to be denied a seat on the federal bench in 1986. Almost as swampy as it gets!
6 reasons Jeff Sessions is unfit to be our next Attorney General
1. Jeff Sessions was too racist to be a federal judge in 1986. He is too racist to be America’s Attorney General in 2016. [TWEET THIS]
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions, then the Attorney General for Alabama, to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court in Alabama. The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee denied him a seat on the federal bench in a 9–9 vote, deeming him “grossly insensitive” on racial issues.
2. Jeff Sessions believes immigrants “create cultural problems” and has spent his career trying to push them out of the country #ResistSessions [TWEET THIS]
Sessions has said immigrants “create culture problems,” believes undocumented immigrants don’t have rights under the U.S. Constitution, opposes allowing undocumented immigrants to receive health care or a public school education, and supports mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, including unaccompanied children and families.
3. Sessions said he’d have a “big concern” with an openly gay Supreme Court Justice. He spent his career resisting LGBT rights. #ResistSessions [TWEET THIS]
Voted against bill making it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, argued that marriage equality would lead to a world where siblings could be considered married, voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, refused to adopt a voluntary non-discrimination policy stating that sexual orientation is not a factor in his senate office’s employment decisions. In 2009, Sessions said he would have “a big concern” about an openly gay Supreme Court justice. In 2006, he voted for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
4. Sessions said nonconsensual groping =/= sexual assault . That is contrary to the DOJ’s current definition of sexual assault #ResistSessions [TWEET THIS]
After a 2005 video tape surfaced of Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, Sessions said he didn’t think nonconsensual groping and fondling constituted sexual assault — a claim that runs contrary to the Department of Justice’s definition of sexual assault. In 2012 he opposed reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act because it extended protections to same-sex couples and temporary visas to immigrants who entered the country illegally but have suffered domestic violence.
5. 28 states have legalized medical marijuana. 8 legalized recreational. As AG, Sessions could bring that to a screeching halt #ResistSessions [TWEET THIS]
Sessions is “a drug war dinosaur.” After President Obama said pot is less dangerous than alcohol in a 2014 interview, Sessions explained that Obama was wrong because Lady Gaga claimed to be addicted to pot. In 2016, he claimed that if you smoked pot, you’re not a good person. As attorney general, Sessions could rescind two Justice Department directives that called for stepping back from marijuana prosecutions and use federal law enforcement against operators and sue state regulators to block state systems.
6. Oh yeah, Jeff Sessions also complained about a law protecting children with disabilities in a senate floor speech. [TWEET THIS]
In a 2000 Senate floor speech, Sen. Sessions made a long and perplexing speech against the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — a law the helps fund and protect the rights of children with disabilities. He argued, “We have created a complex system of federal regulations and laws that have created lawsuit, special treatment for certain children, and that are a big factor in accelerating the decline in civility and discipline in classrooms all over America. I say that very sincerely.”
Yep, he was blaming federal protections for students with disabilities for public school failing. Check him out in action: VIDEO.