Here's a fraction of the many reasons that Sessions is a dangerous, disastrous pick for our nation’s top law enforcement officer:
• If confirmed, Sessions would be the nation's most powerful law enforcement agent, with broad control over federal law enforcement and criminal prosecution across the country. He would have the power to change the Justice Department's priorities, impacting everything from civil rights and police reform to voting rights and protections for the LGBTQ community.
• Sessions said he thought the Ku Klux Klan was OK until he found out some members smoked marijuana.
• He attacked the NAACP and ACLU as “un-American” for “forcing civil rights down the throats of people.”
• He was reportedly involved in drafting the executive order that created the Muslim ban.
• He’s opposed nearly every immigration bill put forward in the last two decades that’s included a path to citizenship.
• He opposes same-sex marriage as well as sexual relationships between same-sex partners.
• Confronted with Trump’s remarks about grabbing women by their genitals, Sessions said it would be a “stretch” to “characterize that as sexual assault.”
• He voted against the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
• He referred to a white attorney who took on voting-rights cases as a “traitor to his race,” and has faced allegations that he used the n-word to describe a Democratic official in Alabama.
• He’s repeatedly worked to block NSA privacy reforms, including the mild reforms put in place under the USA Freedom Act.
• He sided with the FBI in its effort to force Apple to break the iPhone’s encryption, and has pushed legislation that would force technology companies to turn over customers’ private information to law enforcement.
• He's an old friend of Breitbart News, the site that mainstreamed white nationalism and has promoted racism, misogyny and other forms of hate.
• In the 1986 confirmation hearing that led to the rejection of Sessions as a federal judge, witnesses testified that he referred to a black attorney as “boy,” and described the Voting Rights Act as “intrusive.”
Read more here: http://www.freepress.net/blog/2017/01/05/jeff-sessions-too-hateful-and-dangerous-serve-attorney-general
Guidelines for Writing a Letter to the Editor
Open your letter by stating the problem that concerns you — in this case, Trump’s nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general.
Define why this issue is important. As attorney general, Sessions would be our nation’s top law enforcement officer. He would have the power to change the Justice Department’s priorities, impacting everything from civil rights to police reform to voting rights.
Criticize Sessions’ track record. Support your critique with concrete details. Sessions was reportedly involved in drafting the executive order that created the Muslim ban and has long been hostile to people of color, women, immigrants and the LGBTQ community. (If you need more evidence to support this position, please refer to our talking points).
Offer a recommendation. Senators must block this confirmation. If you’re from a state with Republican senators, urge those senators to resist pressure from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to confirm Sessions.
Sign the letter. Provide your full name, mailing address, email address and phone number (many outlets will want to contact you before publishing). Include any relevant organizational affiliation.