Jeff Sessions Totally Explained

Everything about Jeff Sessions totally explained

Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Early life

Sessions was born in Selma, Alabama to Abbie Powe and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, Jr. His father owned a general store and then a farm equipment dealership. Sessions grew up in the small town of Hybart. In 1964 he became an Eagle Scout. In his adult life, he became a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.
   After attending school in nearby Camden, Sessions studied at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969. He was active in the Young Republicans and student body president there. Sessions received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Alabama in 1973.
   Sessions became a practicing attorney first in Russellville and then in Mobile, where he now lives. He was also an army reservist in the 1970s, achieving the rank of captain.
   Sessions and his wife Mary have three children: Mary Abigail, Ruth Walk, and Sam.

Political career

Following a two-year stint as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama (1975–1977), Sessions was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the United States Attorney for Alabama's Southern District, a position he held for 12 years. In 1986, Sessions was nominated for a federal judgeship by Reagan. The nomination was killed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which refused by a 10-8 vote to let the nomination come to the Senate floor for a vote. Sessions' opponents accused him of "gross insensitivity” on racial issues.
On October 5, 2005, he voted against a bill restricting treatment of terrorist suspects (External Link

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Sessions has taken a strong stand against any form of citizenship for illegal immigrants. Sessions was one of the most vocal critics of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, leading the charge to its being tabled (killed) on June 28, 2007.
Sessions was one of 37 Senators to vote against funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research.

Brief exchange with Chuck Grassley

On June 26, 2007, Sessions got into a brief exchange with Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa. Sessions stated that he didn't support Grassley's amendment, but would yield time to Grassely, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid didn't allow it, prompting Grassley to responded, "I don't care if I speak, I can speak sometime else, but I'd like to have time for debate on my amendment, and can I talk about why I should bring my amendment up."(External Link

)

Environmental Record

In 2005, Jeff Sessions received a 0 percent on the Republicans for Environmental Protection's ("REP") environmental scorecard. He voted in a manner inconsistent with what the REP considers pro-environment on all 15 issues considered environmentally critical by the REP. Issues in which Senator Sessions voted anti-environment were all amendments to the Energy Policy Act proposed in 2005, the issue of authorizing drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and fuel economy standards for vehicles.
Senator Sessions received a 5 percent from the League of Conservation Voters ("LCV") scorecard for his pro-environment vote on the issue of natural gas facilities. He voted against tabling the bill which would allow states a say in companies building new and possibly harmful natural gas facilities. This pro-environment vote, however, was balanced by his anti-environment votes on the energy conference report, renewable energy, farm conservation programs,global warming, natural gas facilities, undermining fuel economy, increasing fuel economy, and various other issues.
In 2006, Senator Sessions received a 0 percent from the REP and a 0 percent from the LCV. According to these organization, he voted anti-environment on the issue of energy and weatherization assistance, on drilling, environmental funding, peer review, renewable resources, and The Gulf of Mexico Security Act.

Controversies

Sessions had unsuccessfully prosecuted three civil rights workers (including Albert Turner, a former aide to Martin Luther King, Jr), on a case of election fraud for the 1984 election. Sessions spent hours interrogating black voters in predominantly black counties, finding only 14 allegedly tampered ballots out of the more than 1.7 million ballots cast. The three civil rights workers were acquitted after four hours of jury deliberation.
   On September 9, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Sessions called his former law professor, Harold Apolinsky, co-author of Sessions' legislation repealing the federal estate tax, which had lost momentum in Congress, and left a voicemail: "[ArizonaSen.] Jon Kyl and I were talking about the estate tax. If we knew anybody that owned a business that lost life in the storm, that would be something we could push back with."
   Sessions was one of only nine opponents of Senator John McCain's anti-torture amendment. Sessions supports Vice President Dick Cheney's proposal to exempt the CIA from any ban on torture.
   Sessions has been opposed to parts of the Voting Rights Act, which he described as a "piece of intrusive legislation". He later voted in favor of extending it.
   Sessions has advocated the extension of FISA legislation to legalize the Bush Administration's wiretapping techniques. He compared worries about government overreach to "two dramatic errors some years ago in a situation just like this, on emotion driven by our civil libertarian friends," specifically the lack of sharing of information between the FBI and the CIA as well as prohibitions on obtaining intelligence from "dangerous" sources. Sessions was indirectly criticized for this phrasing by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who replied "[SenatorSessions said] 'The civil libertarians among us'—and then he listed all the bad things he thinks the civil libertarians among us have done. I hope every one of us—every one of us in this Chamber—supports the civil liberties of the United States of America because if you don't, you don't believe in the Constitution."

Committee Assignments

Electoral history

Further Information

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