Jeff Sessions

Senator (R-Alabama (U.S. state)) Jeff Sessions (1946-) is the ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and also serves on the Armed Services, Budget and Energy and Natural Resources committees.

He describes his focus on "maintaining a strong military, upholding the rule of law, limiting the role of government, and providing tax relief to stimulate economic growth and empower Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money."

While serving in the United States Senate, Sessions has received numerous awards including: the Reserve Officers Association Minuteman of the Year Award, the National Taxpayers Union Friend of the Taxpayer Award, the Watchdogs of the Treasury Golden Bulldog Award, the National Federation of Independent Business Guardian of Small Business Award, the Coalition of Republican Environment Advocates Teddy Roosevelt Environmental Award and the Alabama Farmers Federation Service to Agriculture Award.

Justice

From private practice in Mobile, Alabama, he spent two years Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama (1975-1977), Sessions was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the United States Attorney for Alabama’s Southern District, a position he held for 12 years. Reagan nominated him for a judgeship, but he was not confirmed over concerns about racial insensitivity.

Sessions was elected Alabama Attorney General in 1995, serving as the state’s chief legal officer until 1997, when he became a U.S. Senator.

In his role on the Judiciary Committee, he favors confirming federal judges who follow the law and do not legislate from the bench. He serves as chairman of the Judiciary Administrative Oversight and the Courts Subcommittee. He has said that he could support a Justice that supported abortion rights, and would not be opposed to a gay appointee: "I don't think a person who acknowledges that they have gay tendencies is disqualified per se for the job,” Sessions told Mark Halperin in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“We need to be looking for a person that can gain full respect of the American people, who can apply the law fairly, when they put on that robe will be nonpartisan and nonbiased, no promoting any agenda, personal, religious, or moral, and follow the law faithfully,”

He introduced the Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Improvement Law of 2000, which authorized badly needed funds for state and local crime labs to reduce the backlog of ballistics, blood, and DNA tests.

He disagreed with President Bush on creating a guest worker program.

National security

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sessions is a strong advocate for America’s military, including the four major defense installations in Alabama – Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville; Fort Rucker, near Ozark; Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery; and the Anniston Army Depot.

Sessions opposed Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2005 legislation to outlaw the use of harsh interrogation techniques on High Value Detainees. He backed Vice President Dick Cheney, who advocated for CIA exemptions to the proposed ban on the questioning of terror detainees.

He criticized Obama Administration attorney general Eric Holder's to reopen a criminal investigation into possible Central Intelligence Agency improper conduct during interrogation of terrorist suspects. Holder's action was called political, with Sessions and other colleagues pointing to a 2004 CIA report on the matter that concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove unlawful acts. This action, however, seems to ignore that Michael Mukasey, attorney general in the George W. Bush Administration, had reopened the 2004 declination in 2008, before the Obama Administration.

Energy and Environment

On the Energy committee, he intends to develop policies that promote reliable and affordable energy sources and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. A strong environmentalist, he had introduced legislation that created the newest addition to the National Wildlife Refuge system, the Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge near Anniston and extended wilderness protection for Dugger Mountain in the Talladega National Forest.

To increase energy independence, Senator Sessions worked closely with his Gulf state colleagues to open 8.3 million acres of land in the Gulf of Mexico to new energy exploration, the first such expansion in decades.

He supports nuclear power as the most environmentally friendly means of energy independence.

Budget

Dubbed a “budget hawk” by the Alabama press, Sen. Sessions has used his membership on the Senate Budget Committee to restrain the growth of federal spending and make permanent tax cuts that benefit American families.

In November 2008, he complained to President Bush "It seems to me that (Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr.), whom you obviously admire, has assumed an inappropriate role in our governmental system...He is acting as a Wall Street investment banker, allocating hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money, with no oversight and no state plan. This undermines our heritage of law and order, and is an affront to the principle of separation of powers."

Health

Sessions played a leading role in ensuring that the Medicare Prescription Drug law included a rural health care component that reduced the disparity in Medicare payments that has devastated Alabama hospitals. As a result, Medicare payments to Alabama hospitals will increase by nearly $1 billion over a 10-year period.

Senator Sessions joined in leading efforts to make funding more equal in the Ryan White CARE Act. The South has been hardest hit with HIV/AIDS in recent years, but the funding formula kept most of the money going to big cities. The new legislation will bring much-needed funding to Alabama, making health care available for low-income Alabamians living with HIV/AIDS.

Education

A former teacher, as is his wife, he is an education advocate. Sessions authored a key provision in the 2001 tax cut bill to make interest earned on tuition savings and prepaid tuition plans tax free.

Second Amendment

He has been a long supporter of gun owners’ rights, and has received awards from the National Rifle Association. He signed a Friend of the Court brief urging the Supreme Court of the United States to strike down a Washington, DC ban on handguns.

Personal

Sessions has served as a lay leader and as a Sunday school teacher at his family’s church, Ashland Place United Methodist Church, in Mobile. He served as the Chairman of his church’s Administrative Board and has been selected as a delegate to the annual Alabama Methodist Conference.

Early life

Growing up in the country, Sessions was instilled with the core values – honesty, hard work, belief in God and parental respect – that define him today. In 1964 he became an Eagle Scout and has received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

He worked his way through Huntingdon College in Montgomery, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969. He received a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Alabama in 1973.

Sessions served in the United States Army Reserve from 1973 to 1986, attaining the rank of Captain. "He still considers that period to be one of the most rewarding chapters of his life."