Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

White supremacy is terrorism.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Not all heroes wear capes.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Trump should be leading, not lying.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Open Thread: Democrats Standing Up Against Sessions

Open Thread: Democrats Standing Up Against Sessions

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Good for them. From the Washington Post:

Senate Judiciary Committee members on Tuesday sparred over whether Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) can operate independently of the president if confirmed as attorney general — a debate that took on new importance after President Trump’s late-night firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates for refusing to defend his immigration order.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee’s chairman, said that Sessions will “follow the law, regardless of whether he would have supported it as a matter of policy as a senator.” He said Sessions offered no help in drafting Trump’s order, although it is “not clear to me why it would be a problem even if he had been involved.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the panel, attacked Trump’s order and noted that Sessions’s ideals seem to have at least shaped it. She read aloud from Yates’s memo declaring that she did not find Trump’s immigration order lawful, then referenced the “Saturday Night Massacre,” when two top Justice Department officials resigned over an order from President Richard Nixon…

The committee scheduled a vote on Sessions’s nomination for Wednesday morning. A vote by the full Senate is expected later in the week….

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said he will vote against the nominee because of concerns about Sessions’s civil rights record, his failure to address Russia’s interference in the November presidential election and ethical conflicts in the Trump administration, among other issues. He took aim Tuesday at Trump’s firing of Yates, saying the president had “placed the independence of the Justice Department at stake.”…

…[N]o Democrat on the committee has declared an intention to vote for Sessions, and Democrats are increasing efforts to delay the confirmation of several of Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is every terrible political idea of the last hundred-plus years wrapped in the skin of a depraved leprechaun, and he no more deserves to be in a position of power than… Donald Trump.

Reader Interactions

21Comments

  1. 1.

    Ian G.

    Did it weeks ago. Called the Long Island offices of Schumer and Gillibrand after I couldn’t get through to the DC offices.

  2. 2.

    Percysowner

    Called about DeVos today, tomorrow Sessions is up. Then, assuming we don’t get another horror du jour. I’ll try to protest Bannon being named to the NSC. That leaves protesting the silencing of scientists for Friday. I’m going to be calling or faxing my representatives for the next four years. Or until Trump declares a constitutional emergency and cancels elections.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Getting interesting…

    Manu Raju ‏@ mkraju 11m11 minutes ago
    McCain reiterates he is leaning AGAINST voting for Mulvaney as OMB director, complicating his path

    (of course, I’ll believe it when I see it, but this is personal to McCain, not something silly like the separation of powers or the rule of law)

  6. 6.

    BBA

    How about voting no on everything, for the next four years. If you get a kidney stone, don’t pass it.

  7. 7.

    jl

    I’d love to hear Session’s answer whether he still thinks it is important for US AG to stand up to executive on questionable executive orders and how that squares with firing Yates. His answer to that question alone merits a filibuster of his nomination.

  8. 8.

    Jeffro

    @Percysowner: I heard Bannon’s NSC seat might need Senate approval after all? Anyone else hear this?

    Anyway once we’re done with Sessions one way or the other, could I put a request in that the Newly Feisty Left please protest Jerry Falwell Jr being named as head of a federal higher ed ‘task force’?!? Jesus jumping Christ, what a perfect storm of grifter bullshit, stupidity, and holy square peg for a round hole.

  9. 9.

    Elie

    I like the little bit of spine we are finally seeing from Dems. I called my senators to vote against Sessions today and also called the office of our WA state AG who is suing the Trump regime to give him an attaboy. We must use everything we got and then some.

  10. 10.

    Lizzy L

    @Jeffro: WTF? Falwell? I hadn’t heard about that piece of idiocy. Pick your battles, folks. We have plenty of targets to choose from.

    The stuff circulating on FB about Bannon’s seat on the NSC needing Senate approval is Wrong.

  11. 11.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Both my senators from Maryland have announced they are not voting for Sessions. Also DeVos. Chris Van Hollen, our newest Senator from Maryland, is also not voting for Pruitt, Price and Mnuchin. You go Chris.

  13. 13.

    artem1s

    @Kathleen: glad Sherrod is on board. I think it’s worth calling Portman too (just did myself). He had to help out a Cleveland Clinic doctor over the weekend after he was caught up in the disastrous EO pogrom. I’m pretty sure the Robber Barons who need their bypass operations won’t be pleased if their favorite doctors aren’t there for them. Also, the Clinic has lots and lots of well healed patients from the Middle East. Making travel difficult for patients will not sit well with them.

  14. 14.

    Percysowner

    @artem1s: I called Portman today, but his voicemail was full, both offices. So I found a free fax service and shot off a fax to him on DeVos. I’m pretty sure we’ll lose the DeVos vote, but maybe Sessions can be stopped.

  15. 15.

    Starfish

    Now the acting attorney general is keeping the US Marshalls from doing their jobs or telling them they don’t have to do it. The Muslim ban is horrible.

  16. 16.

    Starfish

    @Percysowner: More Democrats were waffling on DeVos than Sessions. Wasn’t it someone here who said their NJ person voted no on DeVos and wasn’t sure on Sessions?

  21. 21.

    randy khan

    If you call or email your Senator about Sessions, be specific in saying you want *every possible* procedural step to be taken to stop or even slow down the nomination – objections to unanimous consent, holds, having no Dems at the committee vote, etc. Voting no on the floor of the Senate, or even in committee, is not enough.

    And, while we’re at it, let’s get Sessions to tell us (a) whether he was involved in the immigration EO; and (b) whether he thinks an Attorney General is required to comply with the President’s wishes when the AG thinks that justice or canons of legal ethics require otherwise.

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