Senator Cory Booker just released a statement concerning Donald Trump’s continuing parade of white supremacists up for cabinet positions in his administration. Sen. Booker takes aim at Trump’s purported attorney general consideration of Jeff Sessions, who is so racist and homophobic he was disqualified from a district judgeship back in 1986—that’s Ronald Reagan-era racism that Jeff Sessions was somehow able to cross the line of decency on.
My statement on President-elect Trump's intention to nominate Jeff Sessions as Attorney General:
There is a growing and alarming trend among the individuals President-elect Trump is naming to key positions in his administration. Some have degraded and demeaned Americans. Others actively promote dangerous fringe ideologies. Still more have threatened Americans’ rights, and attacked the privileges of citizenship.
As the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, the Attorney General of the United States must be independent of politics and respect the dignity of all Americans. The Attorney General has a duty to enforce the rule of law fairly and pursue equal justice under the law. One of the core functions of the Department of Justice is to protect Americans’ civil rights, and to defend those who have been denied them. Another key function of the Department of Justice is to protect our security, but never sacrifice our civil liberties.
Like any cabinet-level nominee, Senator Sessions deserves a fair hearing before the Senate and I look forward to fully reviewing his nomination before casting my vote. But based on my experience over three years of working with him, I am concerned that he possesses ideologies that are in conflict with basic tenets of the Justice Department’s mission.
Not only has Senator Sessions been a staunch opponent of reforming the tragic shortcomings in our criminal justice system, he holds a number of views that are inconsistent with how most Americans believe justice should be applied under our Constitution.
We need some semblance of sanity in our next administration and while we probably won’t get much, we can at least fight for some.