{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://degette.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/degette-objects-to-sessions-as-attorney-general-due-to-his-regressive", "DeGette Objects to Sessions as Attorney General Due to His Regressive Views", "2016-11-18", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "CO", "Diana DeGette", "D000197", "degette.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Denver \u2013 Senator Jeff Sessions should not be nominated to serve as the nation\u2019s next attorney general due to his regressive views, said Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO).\n\u201cAs the president\u2019s top advisor on matters of law and justice, the man or woman in this position must possess a firm commitment to civil rights,\u201d DeGette said. \u201cHowever, Senator Sessions\u2019 regressive record on immigration, LGBT equality and civil liberties, along with his shocking comments on the NAACP and the KKK, make him unequivocally unfit to serve in this role. I urge President-elect Trump not to make this nomination, and instead to make good on his promise to unify our divided nation. And if he does not, members of the Senate must reject Senator Sessions for this critical role.\u201d\nSessions is the U.S. Senate\u2019s leading anti-immigration voice, urging severe restrictions on visas and drastically expanded immigration enforcement while blocking practical reforms to our country\u2019s outdated immigration system. While in the Senate, he has vigorously opposed the repeal of Don\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell and voted for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Earlier in his career, when nominated by President Ronald Reagan to be a federal judge, he was turned down by the Senate amid repeated allegations of racist language, criticism of the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP, and a purported joke about the Ku Klux Klan.\u00a0While advising the campaign earlier this year, Senator Sessions supported Trump\u2019s suggestion to institute a ban on Muslims entering the United States and his opposition to the 14th Amendment, which confers citizenship on people born in this country.\n\u201cThis proposed nomination is another disturbing sign of where the Trump administration is headed,\u201d DeGette noted. \u201cIf Senator Sessions was not fit to be a federal judge, he's not fit to be Attorney General. His actions and attitudes on civil liberties make him completely wrong for the job.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://degette.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/degette-objects-to-sessions-as-attorney-general-due-to-his-regressive"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.730164047330618, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}