A marathon of Senate confirmation hearings gets kicked off today starting with Jeff Sessions (R - Alabama), Trump's pick for Attorney General, beginning at 9:30AM EST. Sessions is certain to face fierce opposition from liberals who will undoubtedly bring up his "racially insensitive" comments from the 1980s and grill him on his views regarding voter I.D. laws and immigration.
According to the Daily Caller, Sessions' opening comments will focus on, among other things, cracking down on gun crimes, drug trafficking and gang activity by reestablishing and strengthening the "partnership between federal and local officers to enhance a
common and unified effort to reverse the current rising crime trends." Sessions also plans to confirm that he will focus on prosecuting those "who repeatedly violate our borders," a comment which is sure to draw a lot of criticism from the liberal Senators on the Judiciary committee.
“If I am confirmed, we will systematically prosecute criminals who use guns in committing crimes. As United States Attorney, my office was a national leader in gun prosecutions every year. We will partner with state and local law enforcement to take down drug trafficking cartels and dismantle gangs. We will prosecute those who repeatedly violate our borders.”
“It will be my priority to confront these crises vigorously, effectively, and immediately. We must reestablish and strengthen the partnership between federal and local officers to enhance a common and unified effort to reverse the current rising crime trends. I deeply understand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it.”
At this point it is relatively well known that Sessions was Reagan’s first judicial nominee to be defeated after the Senate Judiciary Committee heard charges back in the 80's that he referred to the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union as un-American, communist-inspired organizations, and had agreed with a judge's remark that a white civil rights lawyer was “a disgrace to his race" for representing black plaintiffs. Sessions never officially admitted to making the comments but did acknowledge that, “I am loose with my tongue on occasion.” While the comments are nearly 30 years old at this point they're very likely to be rehashed in excruciating detail in today's hearings.
Sessions' stance on immigration is also likely to play a key role today given that Trump made immigration policy a cornerstone of his campaign. Eager liberal Senators will be anxious to pepper Sessions with questions regarding his views on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (aka the DREAMERs), whether or not his Department of Justice will pursue mass deportations of illegal immigrants and the border wall.
Finally, Sessions will very likely come under attack for his past prosecution of voter fraud cases against three black civil rights activists in the 1980s. Obviously, allegations of voter fraud and the need for voter ID laws came up frequently during the 2016 campaign with numerous instances discovered of dead people voting and state voter registration databases being riddled with errors. This is a particular hot button for democrats who, with the help of George Soros, have vehemently opposed voter ID laws in several states across the country on the basis that they somehow seek to restrict the voting rights of minority and low-income voters.
Meanwhile, before we ever even get started, Sessions' hearing is set to make history as Cory Booker of New Jersey will become the first sitting senator ever to testify against a colleague during a confirmation hearing. Chris Collins (R - New York) appeared on CNN earlier to condemn Booker's actions as nothing more than a "political stunt."
"Cory Booker's all about the latest stunt. If you remember what he did when he was mayor in New Jersey. The first thing he does is he tries to grab international headlines. What he's doing today, never done before in the Senate. I mean it's not surprising at all that Cory Booker's the one pulling this off."
"Cory Booker's all about the latest stunt" -- @RepChrisCollins on Booker testifying against Sessions https://t.co/hAdYK5dpsc
— New Day (@NewDay) January 10, 2017
And while all of this will make for fine political theater, given that Republicans control a 52-48 majority in the Senate and that Democrats eliminated the 60-vote threshold in 2013, all of the liberal grandstanding this week will ultimately amount to nothing more than an attempt to discredit and shame Trump's appointees as they will all almost certainly be confirmed anyway. As John Cornyn of Texas pointed out, "[Democrats] can delay the process, they can’t stop it."
With that, here is a live stream of Sessions' hearing: