Graham Mocks Anti-Gitmo Protesters at Sessions Hearing

Sessions said he is the same person now that he was three decades ago, but perhaps a little wiser.

More excitement is expected throughout the day and into tomorrow, when Democratic Senator Cory Booker will testify against Sessions-marking the first time a sitting senator will testify against a colleague for a cabinet position. Last Tuesday, NAACP President Cornell William Brooks and five other civil rights leaders were arrested during a sit-in at Sessions’s Alabama office, demanding he withdraw his name for consideration for attorney general.

One case that could receive attention is his prosecution of black voting rights activists as a US attorney in the 1980s. “There is nothing I am more proud of than my 14 years of service in the Department of Justice”.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley said Sessions “is a man of honor and integrity, dedicated to the faithful and fair enforcement of the law”.

For his part, Sessions has always adamantly denied any racial motivation to the case, and a spokeswoman said the defendants had been indicted by a mostly black grand jury, according to CNN.

Sessions, a law-and-order conservative, would as attorney general be responsible for implementing the draconian criminal justice agenda on which Trump campaigned.

“He’s been a threat to desegregation and the Voting Rights Act and remains a threat to all of our civil rights, including the right to live without the fear of police brutality”, the head of the Alabama NAACP says of Sessions. You know that I revere our Constitution and am committed to the rule of law.

Ranking Member, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D, California) critical of Sessions said he voted for water boarding and voted against hate crimes law.

As attorney general he will be responsible for enforcing laws against hate crimes, womens’ rights to abortion, and potentially telling Mr Trump that he can not do what he chooses, if it runs against the constitution.

But when later asked by Sen.

On another counterterrorism issue, Mr Sessions said he would not support banning anyone from the United States on the basis of religion, and said Trump’s intentions were to block people coming from countries harbouring terrorists, not all Muslims.

Sessions added that Americans overwhelmingly honor constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, which includes Muslims, and that he personally believes that Muslims should not be treated differently.

“I think they’re on the fence about Gitmo, but I’m not sure”, Graham said.