Four-term Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is Donald Trump's pick for U.S. attorney general, CBS News learned Friday morning. Sessions was an early and outspoken supporter of Trump and was among the top candidates rumored to be tapped for the position.
In addition to promoting Trump, Sessions has been "a hard-liner on free trade and immigration, arguing that prospective immigrants don’t have constitutional protections," Bloomberg Politics writes. "He has opposed efforts to overhaul prison sentencing, back off the war on drugs and legalize marijuana." Sessions also voted for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and was against the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."
As America's top lawyer and law enforcement officer, Sessions would potentially play a large role in vetting Trump's Supreme Court pick.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Decades ago, Sessions lost an appointment to the federal bench after a 1986 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where witnesses accused Sessions of calling some civil rights organizations "un-American" and the NAACP "communist inspired." He later made it to the Senate and holds a top position in the Judiciary Committee.
-
‘This estrangement from death has beget euphemisms’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Political cartoons for October 30Cartoons Thursday's political cartoons include missing SNAP benefits, working without pay, and Graham Platner's terrible tattoo
-
Should Labour break manifesto pledge and raise taxes?Today's Big Question There are ‘powerful’ fiscal arguments for an income tax rise but it could mean ‘game over’ for the government
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
