With all the attention lately on President Trump’s complaints about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, there has been very little focus on the genuine problems with Sessions’ job performance. In six key areas – voting rights, hate crimes, federal criminal law and mass incarceration, police reform, immigration, and civil rights enforcement – Sessions has …
Jan 09, 2017 · Bad Law A look at the terrible things Jeff Sessions did as attorney general of Alabama. By Elizabeth Wydra. Jan 09, 2017 10:51 AM.
Nov 08, 2018 · Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned Wednesday at President Donald Trump's request. The announcement -- made by Trump on Twitter -- came the day after the midterm elections. ... Given the bad ...
Jan 12, 2017 · There are many other reasons why Sessions is the wrong choice for attorney general, and unfit to serve in these times. Here are three. 1. His unqualified support for law enforcement is a problem.
Nov 07, 2018 · Jeff Sessions, once one of President Trump’s most loyal and trusted advisers before infuriating Trump over his recusal from the Russia investigation, has resigned as attorney general at the ...
Sessions’ efforts to dismantle civil rights and civil liberties protection s gained during prior administrations are especially apparent when it comes to criminal justice. He rescinded multiple Obama-era memos, including one that directed federal resources away from enforcing federal drug laws in states that have legalized medical or recreational use of marijuana. The move was part of the former attorney general’s fear-driven agenda to reinvigorate the War on Drugs and to systematically dismantle his predecessors’ efforts to reduce federal imprisonment rates. Among those efforts was Sessions’ directive to prosecutors to bring the harshest possible cases against defendants — including people like Marion Hungerford, a mentally ill woman who was sentenced to 159 years in federal prison for helping to commit a string of armed robberies, even though she never touched the gun.
Sessions did everything in his power to speed up deportations and aid the separation of families, issuing a series of policies that trampled on due process. The Justice Department ended a program to notify immigrants of their rights during deportation cases, set arbitrary and unreasonable quotas for immigration judges, and repeatedly overruled immigration court and Board of Immigration Appeals' decisions on his own initiative.
Following Sessions’ forced resignation, Trump quickly moved to place Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general. Whitaker, a lawyer and former prosecutor, was Sessions’ chief of staff. There is little reason to believe that he will not follow in his predecessor’s footsteps on issues of civil rights and civil liberties. All those who care about civil liberties and civil rights will need to keep a close eye on the Justice Department. Sessions’ tenure was a disaster, and his replacement promises more of the same.
Shortly after Trump was inaugurated, Sessions began systematically reversing hard-won legal protections for transgender people. In February 2017, the Justice Department revoked a guidance issued in 2016 by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice on the rights of transgender students under Title IX.
Before he took a job at the Justice Department, Whitaker wrote an op-ed saying Mueller “is dangerously close to crossing” a “red line” in the Russia probe if he looked at Trump or his family’s finances.
Fox News' John Roberts and Chad Pergram contributed to this report. Alex Pappas is a senior politics editor at FoxNews.com.
A look at the resignation from Attorney General of Jeff Sessions from the Trump Administration and the Attorney General's growing tension with President Trump, including his recusal from the Russia investigation.
Sessions -- who bonded with Trump over their populist views on trade and immigration -- became the first sitting senator to endorse Trump in February 2016 when he announced his support of the New York businessman’s then-underdog campaign. Video.
In March 2017, Sessions announced his plans to recuse himself after reports surfaced detailing undisclosed conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign. Sessions has said he was acting in his capacity as a Republican senator from Alabama.
Trump won Alabama. Sessions went on to become one of Trump ’s most outspoken and prominent surrogates during the campaign. A number of Sessions’ top staffers – including Rick Dearborn and Stephen Miller – took senior White House roles.
Jeff Sessions, once one of President Trump’s most loyal and trusted advisers before infuriating Trump over his recusal from the Russia investigation, has resigned as attorney general at the request of the president. “At your request, I am submitting my resignation,” Sessions wrote in a Wednesday letter to Trump.