We do not often intervene in the deep workings of our federal government. Now we are compelled to ask you to do just that – to block the nomination of Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General. We join with Common Cause, NAACP, and many other organizations to ask our Senators to prevent the confirmation of this candidate for this critical office.
Mr. Sessions has a long history of opposition to civil rights. He has expressed open contempt for the Voting Rights Act, a key issue in protecting the voting access for all people. He once said that he detested civil rights activists who “shoved civil rights down the throats of people”. He has distanced himself from enforcement of those laws, and he has made clear that protecting the innocent is not his priority. He states he does not believe in “prosecutorial misconduct”, that district attorneys are the ‘victims’ of defense lawyers. This flies in the face of everything we know about racial and class disparities in our judicial system based on a desire for conviction rates, clear differences in sentencing for people of color v white offenders, rush to judgement ignroing exculpatory evidence, and even to using planted evidence.
The mother of Matthew Shepherd, the young gay man brutally murdered in Wyoming in 1998, said this morning she did not trust Mr. Sessions to uphold the Matthew Shepherd James Byrd hate crimes law. That’s a damning indictment from a victim’s family member.
For these and many other issues making Mr. Session unfit for Attorney General, our senators must refuse to confirm this nomination. There are strategies available to block the confirmation that may be employed. Please contact your senator and express deep opposition to this nominee.
You may go to: http://www.churchimpact.org/take-action.html to contact your Senator. Please call them – time is of the essence.
For fast access you may use the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be connected to your Senator. 202-224-3121.
Call your Senators even if you think they are already taking these steps. They need confirmation of your support, numbers to back up their position. And thank them for what they are doing well.
And we thank you. This is a critical step to preserving the work we have done on civil rights and criminal justice reform. We need your voices now.
PS: If you did not see this in time to take action this time, please go to http://www.churchimpact.org/take-action.html and sign up as an activist and our alerts will go directly to your inbox!