WASHINGTON, D.C. — A day later than expected, the U.S. Senate Judiciary voted to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions to be the next Attorney General by an 11-9 party-line vote. Sessions’ confirmation now goes to the floor, where his Republican colleagues are expected to approve him.
Sessions’ nomination was originally supposed to come to a vote yesterday, but Senate Democrats did not show up in an act of protest. Already a contentious nominee for liberals, Sessions became even more controversial after President Donald Trump’s executive order banning refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.
“Not one order idea or pronouncement is meant to bring this country together; they only serve to drive us further apart,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) “It is in this context we are being asked to consider this nomination.”
Sessions, and his Republican colleagues, have vehemently defended his reputation, his record, and his ability to do the job of Attorney General. “He knows the department better than any nominee for attorney general, he’s a man of his word, and most importantly he will enforce the law no matter whether he would have supported that law as a member of the Senate,” Committee chairman Sen Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said.
The American Civil Liberties Union called for Democrats to protest Trump’s nominations until the executive order is rolled back. Throughout the day on Tuesday, Democrats failed to show up to approval votes on several of Trump’s selections, including Sessions.
“We’ve got [attorney general nominee] Jeff Sessions, who we’re told was involved somehow in the drafting of these executive orders,” said Faiz Shakir, political director for the ACLU. “If they want to press this through, say: You don’t get an attorney general until you overturn the Muslim ban.”
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