On Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. , will face the Senate Judiciary Committee and answer questions from his colleagues, who will play a key role in deciding whether to confirm his nomination to be the nation\u2019s top law enforcement officer.
Cabinet confirmation hearings: What to expect this week
The attorney general is in charge of the Department of Justice and its components — the FBI, DEA, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Bureau of Prisons, Office of Justice Programs, and the U. S. Attorneys and U. S. Marshals Service.
It won\u2019t be the first time Sessions has worked at the Justice Department, should he be confirmed. He served for two years as assistant U. S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, and then as U. S. attorney for Alabama\u2019s Southern District for 12 years after President Reagan nominated him in 1981.
As attorney general, Sessions would face a daunting portfolio of controversy and criminal activity. Almost every intractable national problem passes across the attorney general\u2019s desk in some form.
Here are three issues likely to come up in his confirmation hearing — and repeatedly during his tenure.
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The division is expected to release its long-awaited report on the practices of the Chicago police department later this week. An investigation was announced in December 2015 to examine whether the Chicago police routinely engage in a pattern or practice of discriminatory or unconstitutional policing.
Sessions will certainly face questions from the committee about how he would handle the problems identified in Chicago, as well as the five other police department investigations that remain open \u2013 in Baltimore, Ville Platte (Louisiana), Evangeline Parish (Louisiana), and Orange County, California.
\u201cBuilding trust between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve is one of my highest priorities as attorney general,\u201d Attorney General Loretta Lynch said as she announced the Chicago investigation.
But some have questioned whether the Obama Justice Department has been too aggressive in going after police departments.
The Fraternal Order of Police, the nation\u2019s largest law enforcement group, enthusiastically endorsed Sessions\u2019 nomination.
\u201cWe are very, very pleased with the decision of President-elect Trump to tap Senator Sessions to be our nation\u2019s next \u2018top cop,\u2019\u201d the group said in a statement. The group\u2019s president, Chuck Canterbury, is slated to testify in support of Session\u2019s nomination. Both men are expected to face questions about the future of federal police reform.
One of the most enduring themes of Mr. Trump\u2019s presidential campaign was his opposition to illegal immigration. In Sessions, he\u2019s found one of the most consistent supporters of hard-line immigration enforcement.
Sessions led the opposition against the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, as well as the 2013 \u201cGang of Eight\u201d bill. He has also been a leading opponent of Mr. Obama\u2019s use of executive action to push immigration reform.
\u201c\u2019Immigration reform\u201d may be the single most abused phrase in the English language,\u201d Sessions opined in the \u201cImmigration Handbook\u201d he authored for Republicans in Congress in 2015. \u201cIt has become a legislative honorific almost exclusively reserved for proposals which benefit everyone but actual American citizens.\u201d
In the 25-page memo, he offered his analysis of immigration reform in Washington.
\u201cThe only \u2018immigration reforms\u2019 discussed in Washington are those pushed by interest groups who want to remove what few immigration controls are left in order to expand the record labor supply even further,\u201d he complained.
The responsibility for enforcing immigration laws actually rests with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but the Justice Department oversees immigration courts. As attorney general, Sessions would have a significant role in deciding how those courts operate and how aggressively to pursue criminal action against illegal immigrants.
Sessions is likely going to face questions \u2013 from both sides of the aisle \u2013 about how he plans to use the office of attorney general to implement his vision for immigration enforcement.
Marijuana, which is legal in 26 states and the District of Columbia, is big business, and if Sessions is confirmed as attorney general, he could make things extremely difficult for the burgeoning industry.
Twenty-eight states have now legalized either medical or recreational marijuana. But Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump’s nominee to run th…
Like outgoing Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Sessions opposes marijuana legalization. He said at a hearing last year that it\u2019s \u201ca very real danger.\u201d
Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, but the Justice Department has considerable influence over how those laws are enforced.
Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department took two significant steps towards a more relaxed enforcement of marijuana laws.
In 2013, then Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a memo urging federal prosecutors to use limited investigative and prosecutorial resources to focus on the distribution of marijuana and not on individuals. The so-called \u201cCole Memo\u201d represented a significant shift in the approach to prosecuting marijuana violations.
The next year, he issued another memo aimed at alleviating concerns that banks would be prosecuted for doing business with legal cannabis business.
As attorney general, Sessions could reverse both of these initiatives, opt to enforce the federal drug laws fully and not be lenient on banks doing transactions with marijuana businesses.
While the attorney general has very little influence over state policy, the Justice Department\u2019s policy priorities can make life very difficult for legal cannabis dealers.
The marijuana industry has been tepid in its response to Sessions. The National Cannabis Industry Association issued a statement in response to his nomination, saying it hoped to work together.
\u201cVoters in 28 states have chosen programs that shift cannabis from the criminal market to highly regulated, tax-paying businesses,\u201d the statement read. \u201cSenator Sessions has long advocated for state sovereignty, and we look forward to working with him to ensure that states\u2019 rights and voter choices on cannabis are respected.\u201d
Sessions\u2019 nomination hearing is expected to take place over two days — Tuesday and Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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