NEWS

Sherrod Brown will vote 'no' on Trump's AG nominee

Deirdre Shesgreen
dshesgreen@usatoday.com

WASHINGTON – Sen. Sherrod Brown will oppose the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions to be U.S. Attorney General, making the Ohio Democrat the first pledged “no” vote on the Alabama Republican’s bid to become the nation’s top cop.

Senator Sherrod Brown

In announcing his decision on Friday, Brown cited Sessions’ record on civil rights and voting rights, among other issues.

“The U.S. Attorney General’s job is to enforce laws that protect the rights of every American,” Brown said in a statement. “I have serious concerns that Sen. Session’s record on civil rights is at direct odds with the task of promoting justice and equality for all, and I cannot support his nomination.”

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Sessions to be his Attorney General shortly after winning the November election, calling him "a world-class legal mind." Sessions was an early Trump supporter, embracing his hard-line immigration positions and his "law-and-order" platform.

Sessions is scheduled to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

While no other senator has declared their opposition to Sessions yet, other Democrats have signaled that the GOP senator, despite being a member of their exclusive 100-member club, will get a fierce grilling — with sharp questions about past statements he has made about African-Americans likely to take center stage.

Senate confirmation may reopen old wounds for Sessions

When he was up for a federal judgeship in the mid-1980s, Sessions, a former prosecutor, came under fire for reportedly referring to the American Civil Liberties Union and the N.A.A.C.P. as “un-American” because they were trying to “force civil rights down the throats of people.” He also once joked that he thought the Ku Klux Klan was “okay” until he found out its members smoked pot.

Brown met with Sessions earlier this week, pressing the Alabama Republican on whether he would work to shore up the Voting Rights Act and improve police-community relations.

He also asked Sessions for his views on the consent decree between the Cleveland police and the Justice Department, aimed at reducing excessive force and improving community relations. That consent decree came in the wake of the 2014 police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a city park.

Brown said Sessions had a history of opposing such consent decrees.

“As Cleveland’s community members and law enforcement work together to improve relations, it’s important that our city has the full support of the Department of Justice in those efforts,” he said.