11.29.16

Durbin Calls For Sessions’ Nomination Hearings To Be Thorough, Transparent, And Fair

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to call for an objective and thorough confirmation hearing for U.S. Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III of Alabama to be Attorney General of the United States. Given Senator Sessions’ extensive record on critical issues within the Committee’s jurisdiction, the senators requested testimony from outside witnesses on each of the following issues, at a minimum: immigration; violence against women; civil rights, including LGBT protections, racial justice, and hate crimes; workers’ rights; national security and civil liberties; voting rights; criminal justice; and government conflicts of interest, transparency, and oversight.
 
“One of the most solemn responsibilities that falls to the Judiciary Committee is our duty to fairly and thoroughly consider nominations to positions in the Department of Justice, most prominently the position of Attorney General of the United States. We write today to ask that you ensure the hearings on this important nomination be fair and thorough,” wrote the senators in a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “We all have personal and cordial relationships with Senator Sessions and know him to be a strong advocate for his political positions. But as you know, his job as Attorney General, if he is confirmed, will be different: he will have to be an independent Attorney General who is willing to set aside personal beliefs and political positions in service of larger obligations. When our country is struggling with so many divisions, the Committee and the entire Senate must ask whether Senator Sessions is the right man to lead the agency charged with securing and protection the constitutional and civil rights of all Americans.”
 
The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
 
Full text of the letter is available below:
 
November 28, 2016
 
The Honorable Charles E. Grassley
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
 
Dear Chairman Grassley:
 
One of the most solemn responsibilities that falls to the Judiciary Committee is our duty to fairly and thoroughly consider nominations to positions in the Department of Justice, most prominently the position of Attorney General of the United States. We write today to ask that you ensure the hearings on this important nomination be fair and thorough.
 
President-elect Trump has indicated his intent to nominate our colleague, Senator Jeff Sessions, to this important position in our government. We all have personal and cordial relationships with Senator Sessions and know him to be a strong advocate for his political positions. But as you know, his job as Attorney General, if he is confirmed, will be different: he will have to be an independent Attorney General who is willing to set aside personal beliefs and political positions in service of larger obligations. Specifically, the Attorney General must be the people’s lawyer, not the President’s lawyer, and must enforce the laws with a dispassionate and even hand. That is particularly important as we see hate crimes on the rise nationwide and many people becoming more and more fearful of what the incoming Administration will mean for them and their families. When our country is struggling with so many divisions, the Committee and the entire Senate must ask whether Senator Sessions is the right man to lead the agency charged with securing and protection the constitutional and civil rights of all Americans.
 
The responsibility to thoroughly vet nominees to our nation’s highest law enforcement post is one this Committee has taken seriously, regardless of the party of the President, control of the Senate, or identity of the nominee. For example, John Ashcroft was a Senator for only six years, serving on this committee until just before he was nominated to be Attorney General. His confirmation hearings required four days, and included testimony from four Members of Congress and 19 additional outside witnesses.
 
Senator Sessions has served nearly 20 years in the Senate, more than three times longer than Attorney General Ashcroft. Senator Sessions also served as a federal prosecutor and state attorney general, and ran for both state and federal political office. Over the past year, he served as a top political surrogate for President-elect Trump. His nomination will present a voluminous record spanning tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of pages. Moreover, the last time Senator Sessions appeared as a nominee for a confirmation hearing in this Committee was 30 years ago, when the Senate was under Republican control. At that time, the Committee held four days of hearings on his nomination alone, calling numerous outside witnesses to testify.
 
Senator Sessions has developed an extensive record on important issues with this Committee’s jurisdiction, and over which he would yield significant power as Attorney General. The Committee must devote adequate time to examining those issues. Therefore, the Committee should hear from outside witnesses for, at a minimum, each of the following areas: immigration; violence against women; civil rights, including LGBT protections, racial justice, and hate crimes; workers’ rights; national security and civil liberties; voting rights; criminal justice; and government conflicts of interest, transparency, and oversight.
 
Early this year, you decided to deny Chief Judge Merrick Garland a hearing on his nomination to the Supreme Court, and deprived the Senate and the American people of the opportunity to hear from the nominee and outside witnesses. This time, we urge you to ensure that the nominations process is thorough, transparent, and fair – not just a rubber stamp. Accordingly, we look forward to working with you to ensure that this Committee continues its practice of allowing all members to have sufficient time at the upcoming confirmation hearings to thoroughly question and consider all of the Justice Department nominees of President-elect Trump, especially his nominee to be Attorney General.