# Trump nominates Jeff Sessions for AG **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 18, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327 "2016-11-18T15:27:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/41 "2016-11-19T03:39:55Z")
Wouldn’t it be nice if a president elected under these circumstances actually governed with full recognition of the fact that the other person actually got more votes than they did? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/42 "2016-11-19T03:55:05Z")
He _was_ asked. He said if he wanted the popular vote win, he would have just campaigned in New York and California, and win even more easily! I swear, I am _not_ making this up! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/43 "2016-11-19T03:58:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > This possibility has been exactly why I’ve been saying for years that voting to legalize at the state level is a bad idea. Do you think Sessions was nominated in response? Trump is supposedly in favor of medical marijuana and favors a states rights approach to recreational. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/44 "2016-11-19T04:00:48Z")
I wonder what impact this will have on states that have medical marijuana or legalized marijuana? What are the worst civil rights reversals we could see that will still have ramifications after Trump leaves office? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/45 "2016-11-19T04:16:30Z")
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions was brought in to provide the legal hammer to anti-immigration policies and to look the other way when states engage in rampant voter suppression. Perhaps Sessions gets involved in drug smuggling rings and disqualifies blacks from voting, thus purging more voter rolls. Moreover, Sessions will look the other way as state engage in rolling back the civil rights laws of the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/46 "2016-11-19T04:20:32Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I wonder if the feds plan on filling federal prisons with “marijuana offenders” because it’s pretty clear many stated aren’t going to cooperate with the AG in this? Enforcing this would be a foolish waste of time and money, much like Prohibition was. Not necessarily a waste of money. (for some) Federal “for profit” prisons are now slated to be phased out at the moment, sure. But that can be reversed quite easily under “the new boss”. Marijuana offenders are terrific prisoners. Non violent. Not really criminals, really. Great prisoners. Sure it will cost the taxpayer more. Lots more. But that’s not really the point, is it? It will create some wonderful businesses, with lots of great profit, and thankful constituents who will want to distribute a little of that profit … to who? Well to the wonderful job-creating politicians, of course! Great plan! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/47 "2016-11-19T05:49:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Do you think Sessions was nominated in response? > > Trump is supposedly in favor of medical marijuana and favors a states rights approach to recreational. Yeah, but that was this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/48 "2016-11-19T06:20:19Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > This possibility has been exactly why I’ve been saying for years that voting to legalize at the state level is a bad idea. I don’t reach the same conclusion. From a federalism standpoint, states have always served as laboratories for democracy; they can try some scheme or plan, and if it is wildly successful, their experience can serve as a model for the rest of the country. I think marijuana legalization is an apt example of this principle. States have been able to demonstrate that it doesn’t cause noticeable up ticks in crime and that it generates useful tax revenue. A sensible Federal government might jump on this evidence in informing its own policy. The risk, which I mentioned and you reiterated, is that the federal government will eschew this federalism principle in favor of imposing a superceding scheme or plan. And it is a real risk. But, remember that states don’t have to enforce Federal law, so the task of enforcement is on the feds. With a finite budget (and given the positive outcomes mentioned earlier), I have hope that raiding dispensaries would be a low priority. Then again, I’m assuming a sensible government. Come inauguration, we no longer have that. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/49 "2016-11-19T06:24:34Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Jefferson Beauregard Sessions was brought in to provide the legal hammer to anti-immigration policies and to look the other way when states engage in rampant voter suppression. Perhaps Sessions gets involved in drug smuggling rings and disqualifies blacks from voting, thus purging more voter rolls. Moreover, Sessions will look the other way as state engage in rolling back the civil rights laws of the 1960s. I think this makes sense. His justice department would likely not spend a ton of time on civil rights issues, especially as it pertains to minority voting rights. They’ll spend their time prosecuting immigrants; it feeds the narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/50 "2016-11-19T06:26:13Z")
“Federalism” has always only existed for the right wing. The government’s never cared about “states rights” or anything like that when it comes to the left or moderates. Right back to before the Civil War, when the South totally ignored “states rights” by passing things like the Fugitive Slave Act, but as soon as they lost Federal dominance started screaming about how the Federal government had no authority over them and eventually rebelled. ---
**Author:** ![OriginalGangster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea5d25/32.png) [@OriginalGangster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OriginalGangster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/51 "2016-11-19T07:19:31Z")
Is David Duke slated for a cabinet position too? lol ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/52 "2016-11-19T07:26:40Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Sessions is a well known racist, who among other things said he admired the KKK before he found out they smoked pot. I was scanning the thread and this line cracked me up. Did that really happen? Talk about the perfect being the enemy of the good. I wonder if he found an organization that suited his tastes better. Lots of good ol’e southern boys like smoking the ganga nowadays. > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Your country is going down the tubes; You people know that, right? We have front row seats and everything. Like Carlin said, it’s the greatest show on Earth! Way better than TV. Bring snacks! No edibles, though. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/53 "2016-11-19T09:31:10Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I don’t reach the same conclusion. From a federalism standpoint, states have always served as laboratories for democracy; they can try some scheme or plan, and if it is wildly successful, their experience can serve as a model for the rest of the country. > > I think marijuana legalization is an apt example of this principle. States have been able to demonstrate that it doesn’t cause noticeable up ticks in crime and that it generates useful tax revenue. A sensible Federal government might jump on this evidence in informing its own policy. And the potential risk there is that such an experiment is dependent on the federal government allowing it, or at the very least looking the other way, when what the states are doing runs afoul of federal law. If Sessions decides as AG to start raiding dispensaries, he’ll be fully within his rights to do so. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/54 "2016-11-19T11:22:10Z")
Medical weed is very useful. Rolled my Mom some fat doobies when she was on chemo, it helped. So, yeah, given his record, I fully expect him to injure the people who need it the most. But, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/55 "2016-11-28T15:12:21Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > “Federalism” has always only existed for the right wing. The government’s never cared about “states rights” or anything like that when it comes to the left or moderates. Right back to before the Civil War, when the South totally ignored “states rights” by passing things like the Fugitive Slave Act, but as soon as they lost Federal dominance started screaming about how the Federal government had no authority over them and eventually rebelled. You realize of course the basis of the Fugitive Slave Act is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 > [@](#): > > No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. And that the 1850 law was written because states refused to enforce the 1793 law. So in effect you’re saying states have a right to ignore Federal Law they disagree with. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/56 "2016-11-28T16:39:39Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Medical weed is very useful. Rolled my Mom some fat doobies when she was on chemo, it helped. Interestingly I rolled myself some fat doobies when she was on chemo. And it helped too ! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/57 "2016-11-28T17:07:43Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > “Federalism” has always only existed for the right wing. The government’s never cared about “states rights” or anything like that when it comes to the left or moderates. Right back to before the Civil War, when the South totally ignored “states rights” by passing things like the Fugitive Slave Act, but as soon as they lost Federal dominance started screaming about how the Federal government had no authority over them and eventually rebelled. Your indignation is mighty; your knowledge of history is anemic. The Fugitive Slave Act was an act of Congress. It did not “ignore,” states’ rights because the very concept of “states’ rights,” refers to the powers that are NOT granted to the federal government in the federal constitution. In other words, the fact that states are forbidden to coin money is not an infringement on states’ rights, even though states do have plenary legislative power. Why? Because the Constitution explicitly grants the federal government the exclusive power to coin money. The Fugitive Slave Act is similar: Congress had the power to pass such a law by virtue of Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution, which provided: > [@](#): > > And be it also enacted, That when a person held to labor in any of the United States, or in either of the Territories on the Northwest or South of the Ohio river, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other part of the said States or Territory, the person to whom such labor or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take him or her before any Judge of the Circuit or District Courts of the United States, residing or being within the State, or before any magistrate of a county, city, or town corporate, wherein such seizure or arrest shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such Judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken before and certified by a magistrate of any such State or Territory, that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the State or Territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such Judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent, or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from labor to the State or Territory from which he or she fled. So that’s that. This clause was operative law until nullified by the Thirteenth Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/58 "2016-11-28T18:49:27Z")
Does anyone have any cites for Sessions being a racist _other than_ the KKK/pot attempt at humor? Because so far, I haven’t seen any other than “His policies differ from mine and he told a joke in very poor taste once 25-ish years ago.” I’m not saying he’s not racist, just that I’ve yet to see any examples of it beyond that one. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/59 "2016-11-28T20:09:57Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Does anyone have any cites for Sessions being a racist _other than_ the KKK/pot attempt at humor? Because so far, I haven’t seen any other than “His policies differ from mine and he told a joke in very poor taste once 25-ish years ago.” > > I’m not saying he’s not racist, just that I’ve yet to see any examples of it beyond that one. The testimony offered against Sessions when he was being tapped to be a justice has to be noted: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/22/my-testimony-about-jeff-sessionss-racist-remarks-kept-him-from-becoming-a-judge/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/22/my-testimony-about-jeff-sessionss-racist-remarks-kept-him-from-becoming-a-judge/) > [@](#): > > J. Gerald Hebert is director of the voting rights and redistricting program at the Campaign Legal Center. From 1973 to 1994, he served in the Justice Department as acting chief, deputy chief and special litigation counsel in the voting section of the civil rights division. > [@](#): > > I told Denton and the staffer that I knew they had no role to play in whether I kept my job and that I did not appreciate what they were saying. And then I offered my testimony. > > Sessions rebutted some of the testimony against him (including that he had called an African American prosecutor who worked for him “boy” and told him to “be careful what you say to white folks”), but he didn’t deny what I said about him. He never apologized for those comments, either, saying only that “I am loose with my tongue on occasion.” > > **The Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee did not approve his nomination** , making him only the second nominee in 50 years to be rejected by the Senate for a federal judgeship. I never had any contact with Sessions again. > > Thirty years later, Sessions has been tapped to be the federal government’s top attorney, charged with enforcing the law fairly and protecting the civil rights of all Americans. I have little faith that he will. So once again, I am adding my personal encounters with Sessions to the public record. > > The comments I heard him make are three decades old, but his consistent policy positions over the years speak volumes. He falsely charged three African American civil rights activists in Alabama, including a longtime adviser to Martin Luther King Jr., with 29 counts of mail fraud, altering absentee ballots and attempting to vote multiple times. The evidence showed that these activists were simply helping elderly African American voters complete mail-in ballots. All were acquitted of every charge. > > In the decades since, Sessions has promoted the myth of voter-impersonation fraud, despite overwhelming evidence that it is exceedingly rare. At the same time, he has ignored the racial impact of voting restrictions, which have a well-documented negative effect on minority communities, the impoverished and the elderly. He has disagreed that people are sometimes denied the right to vote, and in the wake of Shelby County v. Holder, which struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, he proclaimed victory. Sessions asserted that “Shelby County has never had a history of denying voters” — willfully discounting the Alabama county’s recent history of discriminatory voting changes. > > This is the man President-elect Donald Trump has selected to be in charge of enforcing the Voting Rights Act and all of our federal civil rights laws. It should make every American shudder. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327/60 "2016-11-28T21:22:59Z")
> [@](#): > > …“I am loose with my tongue on occasion.”… His wife was heard to mutter “I wish”, under her breath. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-nominates-jeff-sessions-for-ag/772327.md?page=4)