Conservatives back Sen. Jeff Sessions for judiciary post

Conservatives back Sessions for judiciary post
May 03, 2009 14:24 EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Conservatives are rallying behind Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama to become the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee as the resignation of Supreme Court Justice David Souter adds new urgency to the post.

Sessions, of Mobile, a hard-line conservative whose 1986 nomination for a federal judgeship was rejected by the Senate, appears to be in line for the job after the previous ranking member, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, left the GOP this week to become a Democrat.

Republicans are expected to decide the matter early this week, and the result could determine the tone and ferocity of the party's opposition to Obama's judicial nominees.

Such committee leadership decisions usually are based on seniority. Although there are several senators above Sessions on the panel, they are either restricted under committee term limits or would have to give up top positions on other panels to take the position.

Still, Sessions' promotion was not a sure thing, and some conservative groups worried that party leaders might look to a more centrist lawmaker to take the high-profile post.

Wendy Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, says Sessions is perceived as the "kind of warrior that's needed for this fight."

Long says he's "very smart and he's a very good lawyer ... but he also is aggressive and he won't give up."

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This would be such a critical position to have someone with conservative judicial values fulfill.

I think he is needed severely.

What an excellent choice! He speaks softly but if you watch him in action, he is a tiger. There may be hope for us after all.

May 4, 2009
Tech Scorecard Gives Sessions High Marks

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., will become the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking member after reaching a deal with Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, aides familiar with the talks said on Monday. The official announcement could come as early as this evening after the panel's GOP members meet, CongressDaily reports. The appointment requires endorsement of the full Republican Conference, which aides said should not be a problem. So what do we know about the former Alabama attorney general's track record on tech policy? The Information Technology Industry Council's congressional scorecard, which has been rating members since 1998, says Sessions had an 80 percent voting record in the 110th Congress.

Sessions voted in lockstep with ITI in favor of the America Competes Act; the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement; comprehensive energy legislation; and a Senate Finance Committee tax extender package, which included a provision to expand the research and development tax credit for two years. But Sessions voted against the financial bailout package. At the time, Sessions issued a statement saying government "can and should be part of the solution, but we should tailor its role to have maximum benefit with minimal market interference." He called the Obama administration's plan well-intentioned but said it represented "unprecedented governmental intervention in the economy." "Its enactment will be a signal to the world that America has turned its back on the free market," Sessions said.

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