Attorney General Nomination

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, the reason I came to the floor is to make note of the fact, as I alluded to a moment ago, that President-Elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate one of our own, a Member of the Senate, to be the Nation's top law enforcement officer.

Our friend, the junior Senator from Alabama, Mr. Sessions, is undoubtedly qualified and prepared for this role as Attorney General because of the long career he spent protecting and defending our Constitution and the rule of law.

If there is one thing we can do in the U.S. Government to help restore the public's confidence, it will be to reembrace the concept of equal justice under the law and ensure there is not a double standard by which people are judged--the powerful, the well-connected, and then the rules that apply to everybody else--but, rather, that the same rules apply to all of us. The same laws apply to all of us.

In fact, that is the bulwark of our constitutional democracy.

Frankly, I think the American people have seen, in the last two Attorneys General--the current one and her predecessor, Mr. Holder--is essentially an office of the Department of Justice that was not worthy of the name ``Justice.'' It should have been called an extension of the White House political operation because so much of the way they conducted themselves was governed not by the rule of law but by political considerations.

Our friend, the Senator from Alabama, understands firsthand the importance of hard work as well. He is the son of a country store owner from Hybart, AL. He received his law degree from the University of Alabama. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves.

As we know, his service didn't stop there. Guided by a sense of duty for the last five decades, Jeff Sessions has dedicated his life to the State of Alabama and to the United States itself, first as a Federal prosecutor--including 12 years as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, then as the State's attorney general, and now in the Senate where he has served with distinction for the last decade- plus.

Above all, Jeff Sessions has worked for the people of his State and this country with one purpose in mind; that is, to uphold the rule of law.

His career in the Senate reflects this earnest commitment to do what is right, not what is popular, not what is politically convenient but to do what is right, guided by the Constitution, the laws, and inspired by the people he was elected to serve. He has been a defender of our military families and played a leading role in ensuring that rural communities have the health care they need.

I understand the long knives are already starting to come out against President-Elect Trump's nominees and that Senator Sessions--our colleague from Alabama--is not going to be spared some of those attacks, but I would ask some of these critics who don't know his entire record to consider the fact that a few years ago he teamed up with the senior Senator from Illinois to reform sentencing charges on crack cocaine, sentencing charges that disproportionately discriminate against African-American communities.

It was a bipartisan solution that in Jeff's words, ``achieve fairness without impeding our ability to combat drug violence.'' I would also ask these critics to consider the bill he introduced with Senator Ted Kennedy, the now-departed ``liberal lion of the Senate,'' to use grant funding to reduce sexual assaults in prison. The legislation requires the Department of Justice to keep track of these assaults, and it was signed into law by President George W. Bush.

Taken legislatively, these are not the sorts of actions that fit this distorted picture that some of the critics are already starting to draw about Senator Sessions and his record in the Senate or his character as a man.

I have had the honor of working closely with Jeff on the Senate Judiciary Committee since I came to the Senate, and I am proud to call him a friend. Those who have watched him day-in and day-out understand his stalwart commitment to the rule of law and his deep and abiding concern for our country.

Of course, we wouldn't be Senators if we didn't sometimes disagree with each other. It is just normal, but Senator Sessions has always engaged with seriousness and cordiality and the kind of civility this Chamber and this country could use more of. By the strength of his arguments, he has helped us all to see the weaknesses in our own arguments as he has worked together with his colleagues to try to help us build consensus, which is the only way we get anything done and the way our constitutional system was designed. Only by building consensus can we move our country forward.

We are going to miss Senator Sessions in the Senate when he moves on to the executive branch as Attorney General, but it is even more important, at this point in this country's history, to have a champion of the Constitution and the rule of law at the Department of Justice and to help restore the reputation of that Department.

As I said earlier, for years now--during the course of Attorney General Holder's tenure and unfortunately succeeded by Attorney General Lynch--the Department of Justice has twisted the Constitution to further the President's political agenda.

I give just one example. When Congress was performing its legitimate oversight responsibilities into a gun-running operation gone wrong called Fast and Furious, Attorney General Holder was called before the Senate Judiciary Committee, called before our corresponding House committee, and simply defied those committees' lawful and appropriate oversight responsibilities over what the Department of Justice was doing.
To my knowledge, this resulted in his having been the first Attorney General to be held in contempt of Congress--a sitting Attorney General of the United States held in contempt of Congress.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration put politics ahead of our national commitment to the rule of law and too often demonized those who worked to protect us. I have every confidence that Senator Sessions, as the Attorney General of the United States, the head of the Department of Justice, and the Trump administration will defend the rule of law and will use his expertise in the Constitution to play an essential role in our President-elect's Cabinet. As a 15-year veteran of the Department, Senator Sessions understands better than most what needs to be done to help the Department of Justice refocus its responsibilities and its priorities.

Here is the bottom line. We need people in the highest rungs of our government who will ensure our Constitution is preserved, protected, and defended. Senator Sessions, as the next Attorney General of the United States, will do just that.

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