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- May 27, 2009
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Sessions racial comments lost him a seat on the Federal Bench. He was appointed by Reagan. Sessions just endorsed Trump.
Jeff Sessions's chequered past | Sarah Wildman
As the Senate judiciary committee mulled this over, several other worrisome notes about the nominee came to light. As I wrote in 2002:
Senate Democrats tracked down a career justice department employee named J Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labelled the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "un-American" and "communist-inspired". Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people."
In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groupscould be construed as "un-American" when "they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions" in foreign policy. Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to "pop off" on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a "disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases.
If that weren't enough, a black former assistant US attorney, Thomas Figures, testified that Sessions had called him "boy", and that he had joked about the Ku Klux Klan in ways that implied he wasn't particularly appalled by their appalling tactics. UPI reported during the hearings on Figures's testimony.
''Mr Sessions ... stated that he believed the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Operation PUSH and the National Council of Churches were all un-American organisations teaching anti-American values,'' Figures testified. ''The statement clearly was not intended as a joke.'' Figures also said he was present when Sessions said he believed the Ku Klux Klan was OK until he learned its members smoked marijuana – a statement Sessions has said was clearly made in jest. ''I certainly took it as a serious statement,'' Figures said.
Sessions fought the charges. As I wrote in 2002: "[He] denied the accusations but … admitted to frequently joking in an off-colour sort of way. In his defence, he said he was not a racist, pointing out that his children went to integrated schools and that he had shared a hotel room with a black attorney several times."
He did, however, also admit that he had called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a "piece of intrusive legislation", a phrase he stood behind even in his confirmation hearings. To this day, he argues that Section five – a protective measure that concerns a handful of (mostly southern) states with appalling race histories – of the Voting Rights Act should be struck down.
Sessions's spot on the federal bench was gone. But his political career was hardly derailed. The Alabaman went on to become the state's attorney general (where he was again accused of pursuing voter fraud at the expense of the black community.
Jeff Sessions's chequered past | Sarah Wildman
As the Senate judiciary committee mulled this over, several other worrisome notes about the nominee came to light. As I wrote in 2002:
Senate Democrats tracked down a career justice department employee named J Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labelled the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "un-American" and "communist-inspired". Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people."
In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groupscould be construed as "un-American" when "they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions" in foreign policy. Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to "pop off" on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a "disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases.
If that weren't enough, a black former assistant US attorney, Thomas Figures, testified that Sessions had called him "boy", and that he had joked about the Ku Klux Klan in ways that implied he wasn't particularly appalled by their appalling tactics. UPI reported during the hearings on Figures's testimony.
''Mr Sessions ... stated that he believed the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Operation PUSH and the National Council of Churches were all un-American organisations teaching anti-American values,'' Figures testified. ''The statement clearly was not intended as a joke.'' Figures also said he was present when Sessions said he believed the Ku Klux Klan was OK until he learned its members smoked marijuana – a statement Sessions has said was clearly made in jest. ''I certainly took it as a serious statement,'' Figures said.
Sessions fought the charges. As I wrote in 2002: "[He] denied the accusations but … admitted to frequently joking in an off-colour sort of way. In his defence, he said he was not a racist, pointing out that his children went to integrated schools and that he had shared a hotel room with a black attorney several times."
He did, however, also admit that he had called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a "piece of intrusive legislation", a phrase he stood behind even in his confirmation hearings. To this day, he argues that Section five – a protective measure that concerns a handful of (mostly southern) states with appalling race histories – of the Voting Rights Act should be struck down.
Sessions's spot on the federal bench was gone. But his political career was hardly derailed. The Alabaman went on to become the state's attorney general (where he was again accused of pursuing voter fraud at the expense of the black community.
