Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand spoke on the Senate floor this morning to urge her colleagues to oppose the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions for U.S. Attorney General.
Gillibrand used a letter from a constituent to express her disapproval of Sen. Sessions’ nomination. The letter stated:
“As your constituent and as a Reform Jew, I strongly urge you to oppose the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.
“As the top law enforcement official in the country, the Attorney General has substantial power over the administration of key legislation that advances the fundamental rights of all people, regardless of race, class, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, national origin. Senator Sessions’s firmly established record of opposition to the protection and the advancement of voting rights, LGBTQ equality, women’s rights, immigration reform, and religious freedom suggest that he would not fulfill the Department of Justice’s mandate to provide equal protection under the law for all people.”
The letter went on to talk about Sessions’ votes, particularly against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, when it was added as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, and the Violence Against Women Act.
“In the words of Leviticus 19:18, love thy neighbor as yourself. Guide us to stand up against bias, prejudice, and discrimination. We cannot place the responsibility of leading the Department of Justice, the federal agency directly responsible for ensuring equal protection, in the hands of someone whose record demonstrates insufficient commitment to key civil rights protections.
Gillibrand went on to say that the United States needs “an Attorney General who will defend the rights of women, who will defend the rights of our communities of color, who will defend the rights of the LGBT community, who will defend the rights of Muslim Americans and all minorities. We need an Attorney General who will fight every day for equal justice and equal protection under our laws.”
“Senator Sessions has no record of doing that, and I have no reason to believe that he will do that as Attorney General,” Gillibrand continued. “So I oppose Senator Sessions’s nomination as Attorney General, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.”
Gillibrand, a Democrat, has been one of the most vocal critics of President Trump’s cabinet picks and has voted against more of them than the rest of the Democrats in the Senate.
