Judging by the reactions of the Senate leadership, both parties seem prepared for what could be a tense confirmation process of Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general.
In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hailed Sessions as a “principled, forthright, and hardworking” nominee and urged Democrats to give him a “fair and expeditious” confirmation.
“He cares deeply about his country and the department he will be nominated to lead,” McConnell said of the Alabama Republican. “As a senator, he has worked tirelessly to safeguard the public and to improve the lives of Americans from all walks of life.”
Sessions is well-liked within the Senate on both sides of the aisle, even if he espouses positions on trade and immigration that have often put him in the minority in recent years.
Incoming Democratic leader, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, said his party will scrutinize Sessions’ past during his confirmation.
“I know Senator Sessions and we work out in the gym, but the fact that he is a senator does not absolve him from answering tough questions in the confirmation process,” Schumer, who will take over as leader of the Senate Democrats next year, said Friday. “Given some of his past statements and his staunch opposition to immigration reform, I am very concerned about what he would do with the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and want to hear what he has to say.”
Schumer was one of the architects of the Gang of Eight immigration bill, which Sessions worked hard to derail. Their immigration debates have bordered on the jovial, at times, even if they didn’t change each other’s minds. “We see each other in the gym on bicycles every morning so we can talk to each other like this,” Schumer said while jousting with Sessions during a hearing in February. “I’m making him a little more Brooklyn; I don’t know if he’s making me a little more Alabama.”
McConnell’s statement previewed a likely defense of Sessions, emphasizing the times the senator has worked with Democrats and reminding them of former Attorney General Eric Holder’s swift confirmation when President Obama first took office.
“Whether it was collaborating with our colleague Senator Durbin to reduce sentencing disparities for certain drug offenses, teaming up with the late Senator Ted Kennedy on landmark legislation to combat sexual assault in prison, or his many other achievements, Jeff has always looked out for the safety, security and freedoms of his constituents and the nation,” McConnell said. “I look forward to the Senate’s fair and expeditious treatment of our colleague’s forthcoming nomination, just as it promptly processed President Obama’s first Attorney General nomination, which concluded with a timely up or down vote.”
Trump announced his appointment of Sessions, who has advised the candidate throughout the campaign, to lead the Department of Justice on Friday.
“Jeff has been a highly respected member of the U.S. Senate for 20 years,” Trump said. “He is a world-class legal mind and considered a truly great attorney general and U.S. attorney in the state of Alabama. Jeff is greatly admired by legal scholars and virtually everyone who knows him.”
Despite the concerns raised by Democrats, Republicans are optimistic Sessions will be confirmed. Executive branch nominees need 51 votes to be confirmed, and there are enough Republicans in the Senate to reach that threshold.
