Thread: Sen. Sessions Chosen Ranking Member of Sen. Judiciary Comm.

No. 1 Champion for American Workers Chosen as Ranking Member of Judiciary Committee

Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 9:48 AM

Sen. Jeff Session (R-Ala.) has been selected by Senate Republicans to serve as Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Immigration Subcommittee. Sen. Sessions is a leading advocate for reducing immigration levels and recently sponsored the E-Verify extension amendment to the economic stimulus bill.

"Now we have the No. 1 champion for the American workers on immigration issues being the ranking member," said NumbersUSA's executive director Roy Beck.

During the 2007 Amnesty debate, Sessions led the charge against the bill. Through an abundance of interviews and floor speeches, Sessions successfully communicated the impacts of the bill on American workers and families and was able to help keep the bill from cloture.

Earlier this year, he added an amendment to the economic stimulus package that would have extended E-Verify for five years. His persistence, with the help of a massive NumbersUSA grassroots effort, forced a floor vote on the amendment until Sen. Pat Leahy moved to table the bill.

Sen. Leahy serves as the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, but with Sen. Sessions' prior experience as a federal prosecutor, he will serve as a conservative watchdog on the Committee. Any immigration legislation, including the already proposed DREAM Act, will have to go through the Judiciary Committee and Sen. Sessions before it reaches the Senate floor.

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/ ... ittee.html

Related:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-155302-sessions.html

This is great news, Senator Sessions is a great advocate for the American people!

latimes.com
Sen. Jeff Sessions will replace Arlen Specter on judiciary committee


Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama will be the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 1986, his nomination to a federal judgeship died in the same committee; Arlen Specter, who he is replacing as ranking GOP member, cast one of the votes against Sessions.

The Alabama conservative will lead efforts to test Obama's nominee to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court. The former U.S. attorney will also likely figure in upcoming immigration battles.
By James Oliphant
May 5, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- Republicans have chosen Jeff Sessions to be their leader on the Senate Judiciary Committee, making the conservative Alabaman the public face of the GOP during coming battles over immigration and the next Supreme Court nominee.

A formal vote installing Sessions to replace Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania -- who announced last week that he was switching to the Democratic Party -- as ranking Republican on the committee could come as early as today.

Sessions, 62, couldn't be more different from Specter, as far as Republicans go. The latter is a moderate from Philadelphia who favors abortion rights and gun control. Sessions hails from the Bible Belt and has worked as a Sunday school teacher. He's known for his hard-line stance on immigration, having virulently opposed the massive reform bill that failed to pass the Senate two years ago.

Sessions' elevation is likely to lead to a more contentious nomination battle over who will replace Justice David H. Souter on the Supreme Court than might have occurred under Specter or other Republicans on the committee. And Democrats say it reinforces the GOP's conservative identity in the public's mind at a time when the party itself openly talks of a need to broaden its national appeal.

"Nothing says old-school Republican better than Jeff Sessions," said Phil Singer, a former campaign spokesman for Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Promoting Sessions is a tangible sign that the GOP has settled its internal debate on whether to forge a broader party or a purer one. They've clearly decided to go down the purity road."

And on Monday, conservatives like former Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi had plenty of praise for Sessions.

"Jeff does his homework. He's got a good staff. He will really dig into the records, the qualifications of the nominee," Lott said. "I am sure he will ask very pointed questions."

For Sessions, a former U.S. attorney from Alabama, the role of point man for the Republicans on a high-profile court nomination holds some irony. In 1986, his own bid for a federal judgeship came before the judiciary committee -- and died there. Several Republicans, including Specter, voted against him over concerns of racial insensitivity.

Since winning a Senate seat a decade later, Sessions has used his position on the judiciary committee to be a strong advocate for conservative judicial nominees.

"I'd call it poetic justice," Lott said.

Sessions has been a favorite of conservative court-watchers to assume the ranking slot on judiciary -- largely because they believe that with his experience as a federal prosecutor he will provide a counter-weight to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the committee's chairman and a former prosecutor himself.

"We'd like to have someone who can really take on Leahy," said Curt Levey, executive director of the Committee for Justice, a group that lobbies for conservative nominees.

Specter's party shift has made the prospects of a Republican filibuster of President Obama's first high court nominee less likely. Still, Sessions will be charged with making the GOP's case against the nominee, should that be necessary. Obama attempted to head off such an assault in advance, consulting Monday with Specter and Republican Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah on prospective nominees.

"He asked for recommendations, and I told him I would think it over and get back to him," Specter said after the call.

Sessions will take the judiciary post as part of a complicated arrangement that involves Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). Grassley has more seniority on the panel than Sessions, but cannot assume the post because he holds the ranking spot on the finance committee. Under the deal, Grassley would take over the top Republican post on judiciary in the 112th Congress, a year and a half from now.

Sessions' stance on immigration also could play an important role as the Senate gears up to consider a massive policy overhaul.

He's a major proponent of E-Verify, the voluntary government program that allows employers to certify whether prospective workers are legally authorized to work in the United States. During the debate over the federal stimulus bill in February, Sessions led a failed bid to add amendments that would have forced federal contractors receiving stimulus funds to use the E-Verify program.

"Now we have the No. 1 champion for the American workers on immigration issues being the ranking member," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, an immigration-reduction advocacy group.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 5504.story

oh wow, finally some good news from DC

YIPPEE!

IMO Senator Sessions in the best Senator in Washington.
Hands down he sure beats that prick Schumer.

THIS IS THE GREATEST NEWS I HAVE HAD IN A LONG TIME! Senator Sessions LISTENS to the American people.

Nice! Go Sessions!

W

TEll me please somebody...could he find a way to BLOCK amnesty...at least until the next election? I really want to know....what is the power play he can get in this post.

Gotta love Sessions...hopefully he can add some substance to the hearing and keep Schumer under control a little bit anyway!!

I am so glad to be rid of that traitor Spector, your welcome to him Dems!!



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