Rhode Island’s two U.S. senators are opposing Jeff Sessions’ confirmation as attorney general in the Trump administration. With Democrats in the minority, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to send Sessions’ confirmation to the full Senate.
In a statement, Sen. Jack Reed said he doesn’t think Sessions will be independent enough to push back against President Donald Trump.
Rhode Island’s other senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, announced his opposition to Sessions earlier this month. Whitehouse said Session’s record raises questions about whether he will defend constitutional rights and equal justice.
Sen. Whitehouse also said Sessions has been hostile to what he calls “bedrock civil right laws,” and has used hostile rhetoric against broad groups of Americans.
Sessions’ nomination was initially slated for a Senate Judiciary Committee vote Tuesday. But Democrats used a procedural move to delay the vote until Wednesday.
Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, so Democrats alone cannot block the Sessions nomination. Yet a backlash against Trump’s executive order on refugees is putting the president’s nominees under heightened scrutiny.
