Tag: Jeff Sessions

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren Silenced From Speaking On Senate Floor During Sessions Confirmation

Senate Republicans found a way to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren tonight, utilizing arcane Senate rule XIX, during debate on Sen. Jeff Sessions’ nomination for attorney general.

The rule reads, in part, “no Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute another Senator or other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.”

More from the Star-Telegram:

Warren, D-Mass., was found to be in violation of the rule after reading from a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr. King submitted the letter to the Senate in opposition to Sessions nomination for a federal judgeship in 1986. He was not confirmed for the position.

Warren also quoted critical comments from former Sen. Ted Kennedy.

She was warned by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, who was the the presiding officer Tuesday night, after reading comments from Kennedy that called Sessions “a disgrace.”

About 20 minutes later, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, stopped Warren saying she had “impugned the motives and conduct of” Sessions.

Here is the part of the letter from King that McConnell objected to: “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.”

Warren replied: “I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate.”

Warren is now barred from speaking in the Senate for the remainder of the confirmation debate on Sen. Sessions for Attorney General.

Here’s the 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King that Warren was reading from:

Here’s the moment Warren was told to sit down and shut up:

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Sen. Cory Booker Will Testify Against Jeff Sessions’ Attorney General Nomination

The hearing to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions is currently underway, being broadcast on all cable networks.

CNN has the details regarding Sen. Cory Booker’s historic testimony:

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker is set to testify against Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions Wednesday in an unprecedented move during his attorney general confirmation. This would be the first time in Senate history that a sitting senator will testify against another sitting senator for a Cabinet post during a confirmation.

“I do not take lightly the decision to testify against a Senate colleague,” Booker said. “But the immense powers of the attorney general combined with the deeply troubling views of this nominee is a call to conscience.”

Sessions’ confirmation hearings, which begin Tuesday, are expected to raise additional questions on old allegations of racism from his past. When Sessions was a 39-year-old US attorney in Alabama, he was denied a federal judgeship because the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony during hearings in March and May 1986 that Sessions had made racist remarks and called the NAACP and ACLU “un-American.”

Booker called Sessions’ record “concerning in a number of ways,” citing his opposition to bipartisan criminal justice reform and immigration reform, criticism of the Voting Rights Act and his “failure to defend the civil rights of women, minorities, and LGBT Americans.”

You can watch the hearing currently underway at the streaming link below:

Sarah Flores, a spokesperson for Sessions, told CNN this morning that Sessions considers the Obergefell decision, which made same-sex marriage the law of the land, “settled law.”

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News Round-Up: January 4, 2017

Some news items you may have missed:

• These high school sweethearts share their love story in OUT’s latest “Love Portfolio”

• A NYC bartender is suing Manhattan restaurant Bagatelle for writing him up as “dressing up like a gay porn star” and looking “like a faggot.” The manager then posted the write up for employees to see.

• Over 1,200 law professors have told Congress to drop Sen. Jeff Sessions nomination for U.S. Attorney General.

• A new study shows one in five straight men like to watch gay porn.

• Repealing ObamaCare would increase the budget deficit by $350 billion over 10 years, according to a new study.

• The home of a California gay couple was trashed, painted with slurs and covered in bleach in apparent hate crime.

• Check the new music video from Randy Report fave Sia, “Never Give Up,” featured on the soundtrack for Lion.

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News Round-Up: November 19, 2016

Sam Asghari

Some news stories you may have missed:

• Britney Spears’ “Slumber Party” video introduces the world to hottie Persian-American model Sam Asghari. You may want to check out his Instagram 🙂

• Openly gay Army Secretary Eric Fanning doesn’t think Donald Trump will roll back LGBT inclusion in the military. Mainly because it’s very hard to tell a soldier to “take off” his uniform.

• Trump supporters are “punishing” Starbucks by telling each other to buy more from the coffee giant. Put more money in Starbucks pocket – that’ll learn ’em!

• Newly named Attorney General Jeff Session received an absolute ZERO from the Human Rights Campaign scorecard. Now, what does that tell you about how he’ll serve as America’s top cop?

• Democrat Roy Cooper’s lead in the North Carolina governor’s race keeps growing even as anti-LGBT Gov. McCrory refuses to admit defeat. True sign of a loser – they can’t see they are a loser.

• There have been more than 700 reported incidents of hate harassment since Donald Trump became President-elect Trump.

• Good news on the HIV front – a newly discovered antibody neutralized 98% of HIV strains tested.

• And one more pic of the handsome Sam Asghari before we go…

A photo posted by Sam Asghari (@samasghari) on Oct 3, 2016 at 12:00pm PDT

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Sen. Jeff Sessions Tapped For Attorney General In Trump Administration

Early Trump supporter, Sen. Jeff Sessions, has been tapped by Donald Trump to act as U.S. Attorney General.

Sessions currently serves as Chairman of the Judiciary committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees.

In 1986, Sessions was considered for a federal judgeship, but was rejected for racially insensitive remarks, including calling the NAACP and the ACLU “un-American.”

A witness also testified Sessions said the Ku Klux Klan was okay “until I found out they smoked pot,” a comment Sessions insisted was a joke.

As senator, Sessions worked to oppose the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act, and voted for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. So, a friend of the LGBT community he is not.

Civil rights groups are not pleased with the AG nomination.

From People For The American Way:

The last time Senator Sessions sought Senate confirmation was 1986 when he was nominated to be a federal judge. Despite the fact that Republicans controlled the chamber at the time, he was rejected because of a long history of racially insensitive remarks and a disastrous record on civil rights.

In the last 30 years, Sessions has done nothing that demonstrates that the Senate’s judgement was incorrect or that he’s learned from his mistakes. Instead, he’s spent years making a name for himself as one of the Senate’s most extreme anti-immigrant voices, even attacking the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.

As a senator he’s voted in favor of torture programs under the Bush administration and opposed hate crime protections for LGBT people. If anyone still thinks that Donald Trump might govern with more responsibility or moderation than he campaigned, this nomination is a wakeup call. The Senate should reject this nomination.

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Sen. Jeff Sessions Enthusiastically Endorsed Judge Who Struck Down Marriage Ban

With great sense of irony, we take a trip in the Way Back machine to 2002, where anti-gay Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), enthusiastically endorsed the nomination of Judge Granade who last Friday overturned his state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

“I thank the Senator from Nevada for his courtesy. I will speak about Callie–known as Ginny–Granade, who will be voted on shortly for the U.S. district judgeship for the southern district of Alabama. Ginny Granade is a nominee of the highest order. President Bush has nominated her to be the judge in the southern district of Alabama. She has the temperament, integrity, legal knowledge, and experience that will make her an outstanding jurist on the Federal bench. I know this from firsthand experience. Ginny is levelheaded, fair minded, trustworthy, and very smart.

“I suggest in the filling of this vacancy with Ginny Granade as a Federal judge, we are going to have done a good day’s work. Her experience and practice make me confident that the lawyers and the litigants in the Southern District of Alabama will enjoy and appreciate their opportunity to be in the courtroom she will control and preside over.”

Just delicious…

(via JMG)

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Sen. Sessions: Millionaires sharing budget pain is “rather pathetic”

Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said Tuesday that the idea of the country’s millionaires sharing more of the pain in terms of getting our financial house is “rather pathetic.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, moving to budget issues on the Senate floor, proposed a non-binding resolution that states: “It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.”

Citing statistics that say the median income of S&P 500 companies chief financial officers jumped $2.9 million last year alone, the resolution makes note of the fact that 20 percent of all income goes to the top 1% in the United States while median family income has declined by more than $2,500 in the last 10 years.

Sen. Sessions seemed to consider the resolution a delay to getting to the meat of the matter, which seems to be what major cuts can be made to the budget.

Sen. Reid’s spokesman Adam Jentleson made a statement saying “Apparently, nothing irritates Republicans more than the prospect that millionaires and billionaires might be asked to share in the burden of deficit reduction.”