After a procedural vote yesterday, the US Senate is expected to take a final vote to confirm Alabama senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General later today. Despite working with Sessions in the Senate for twenty years, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois says he will vote “no” on his nomination for Attorney General.
Durbin says the legal challenges to President Trump’s Executive Order halting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries factored into his decision.
“It reminds us how critically important our system of justice is when it comes to the powers of the presidency. So to give to Jeff Sessions this authority based on his performance in the Senate, excuse me, his relationship with President Trump, is something I can’t do.”
Durbin characterizes Sessions’ views on many issues as “extreme.” Sessions’ nomination passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on an 11-9 party line vote.