On Friday, conservative talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh praised Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) for being one of the leading opponents of Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s nominee to succeed Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, declaring that Sessions is “the one who’s making the most sense about this.”
During one of Lynch’s confirmation hearings earlier this year, Sessions posed a simple question to her: “Who has more right to a job in this country, a lawful immigrant who’s here, a green card holder, or a citizen, or a person who entered the country unlawfully?”
It was an expected line of questioning from Sessions, who said last year that the Senate should reject any proposed replacement for current AG Eric Holder who supports the President’s immigration policies.
But even if the question was predictable, the answer was not.
“Well Senator, I believe the right and obligation to work is shared by everyone in this country, regardless of how they came here,” Lynch calmly replied.
In a single sentence, Lynch, by freely admitting she believes illegal immigrants have just as much of a right to American jobs as do U.S. Citizens, made immigration the central issue of her nomination. That, in turn, increased Sessions’ profile during her nomination process, and he has not held back.
Here’s an excerpt from a recent Sessions statement:
My concerns are furthered by Ms. Lynch’s unambiguous declaration that “the right and the obligation to work is one that’s shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here…”
Such a notion of civil rights, as Civil Rights Commission Member Peter Kirsanow articulated, is “incoherent and ahistorical.” Essential to civil rights is the equal and uniform application of the laws. When the President capriciously suspends those laws and provides benefits to people here unlawfully, he injures the rights of lawful workers—denying them the protections Congress passed to secure their jobs and wages.
We are at a dangerous moment. Professor Jonathan Turley described it as a “constitutional tipping point.” For the Senate to approve this nomination would bring us another step closer to the point’s edge.
Sessions’ Alabama colleague Sen. Richard Shelby has also been outspoken against Lynch’s nomination, telling Yellowhammer Radio recently that “she’s supposed to defend the Constitution, but what she wants to do is defend the President, and that’s wrong.
However, other Republicans, most recently Republican Presidential candidate Jeb Bush, have said Lynch should be confirmed.
“I side totally with Senator Sessions on this,” Limbaugh declared. “He is right on the money. Well spoken and brilliant on it… He thinks it is wrong to confirm somebody who is openly committed to breaking the law. He believes Eric Holder is lawless and President Obama is lawless, particularly in the area of immigration. And they are.
“We’re not enforcing existing immigration law. And since Obama cannot get a law he wants out of Congress, he’s prepared to do amnesty via executive order, which is outside the Constitution. He does not have the Constitutional authority, and yet he is going to do it and Eric Holder is right there with him. Lynch has promised to do the same thing. So Jeff Sessions, in describing why the President’s executive amnesty is lawless, says… ‘No senator should vote to confirm anyone in this position — the top law enforcement job in the country — who’s supported the President’s unlawful actions. Congress must defend it’s Constitutional role, which is clearly threatened.’ He’s encouraging all Republicans to oppose her because she has flat out admitted that she will engage in unlawful behavior.”
Limbaugh lamented the “Republican establishment’s” lackluster opposition to Lynch’s nomination and urged them to follow Sessions’ lead.
“(W)hat Jeff Sessions says never enters their calculations, and yet he’s the one who’s making the most sense about this.”
Like this article? Follow me on Twitter and let me know what you think.
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) December 3, 2014
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.