Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the incoming ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned his GOP colleagues not to distort the record of President Obama’s yet-to-be-announced Supreme Court nominee.
Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are expected to vote Monday evening to accept Sessions as the top GOP member of the panel until the end of the 111th Congress. Sessions has agreed to give the Judiciary gavel to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in 2011, when the 112th Congress begins.
{mosads}Sessions is also the only member of the Senate who knows what it’s like to go through the arduous judicial confirmation process.
President Reagan nominated him to serve as a district court judge but the Senate Judiciary Committee, then controlled by Republicans, rejected him in 1986 by a vote of 10-8 because of statements that some critics viewed as racially tinged.
Sessions said his experience would allow him to empathize with Obama’s nominee.
“I think the nominee needs to be given a fair evaluation,” Sessions told reporters.
“I don’t mind tough questioning of a nominee, I support that,” said Sessions. “In the past, too often, people have been inaccurate and unfair to the nominee on both sides.
“I don’t think that’s correct. I think the nominee shouldn’t have their record distorted or have things be inaccurately stated.”
Sessions also said that senators should not filibuster judicial nominees unless there are “extraordinary circumstances,” a standard set by a bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the Gang of 14.
But Sessions emphasized that he would not shy away from posing tough questions to Obama’s choice to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
“If there are problems, they should be aired,” said Sessions. “A minority party has a responsibility to establish and answer questions that might be out there.”
Sessions said he was happy to take over as the senior Republican on Judiciary, a post that became open when Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) joined the Democratic Party last week.
“For me it’s such a thrill because I spent 15 years virtually full time trying cases in federal court as an assistant U.S. attorney and U.S. attorney,” Sessions told reporters. “I have a depth of experience that a lot of people don’t have.”