The Senate confirmation hearings for Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, were forecast to be brutal, and in many ways the first four hours of questioning Sessions faced on Tuesday lived up to the expectations.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Sessions is a member, grilled their colleague about his views on abortion, immigration, criminal justice reform, LGBT issues, his questionable record on civil rights, and several other tough topics.
Three decades ago, the civil rights issue derailed Sessions' nomination for a federal judgeship, with the same Senate Judiciary Committee ultimately rejecting him for the job. Today, Sessions proved that much has changed since then.
"I never declared that the NAACP was 'un-American' or that a civil rights attorney was a 'disgrace to his race,'" Sessions said in his opening statement, forcefully denying the allegations he faced in 1986.
The staunchly conservative Republican proceeded to repeatedly dodge and deflect difficult questions about his beliefs, deftly avoiding any potentially damaging moments. When pressed about sensitive subjects, Sessions frequently said it would be up to Congress to decide the laws he would enforce as Attorney General.
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