AJC fought Sessions nod for federal bench 30 years ago, but today is silent
American Jewish Committee says it is not currently commenting on any Trump appointment; when Reagan nominated Alabama senator for judgeship, it waged ‘vigorous protest’
WASHINGTON — Thirty years ago, the American Jewish Committee waged a fierce campaign to block the appointment of Jeff Sessions for a seat on the federal bench. On Friday, however, the AJC was mum as President-elect Donald Trump nominated the Alabama senator for US attorney general, the nation’s top lawyer and chief law enforcement officer.
A press release from 1986 shows the organization attempted to halt then-president Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Sessions to the US District Court in Alabama. At the time, Sessions was US attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.
The AJC hit back over racially charged statements allegedly made by Sessions, and the Senate Judiciary Committee went on to reject his nomination over the allegations. The rejection made him one of just two judicial nominees in some 50 years whose appointments were thwarted by that panel.
Hyman Bookbinder, then AJC’s Washington representative at the time, accused the future senator of holding “a negative bias on civil rights and civil liberties issues.” Such a bias, he said, “cannot inspire confidence on the part of Black American citizens who have occasion to appear before him in a Federal courtroom that they would be treated no differently from white American citizens.”
The statement is dated April 8, 1986; the Sessions nomination was ultimately withdrawn less than four months later, on July 31, 1986.
During the confirmation process, several controversial statements Sessions was accused of making came to light. Former colleagues told the committee that he referred to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Council of Churches and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as “un-American” organizations that taught “un-American values.”
He also reportedly described a white civil rights attorney working in Alabama as a “disgrace to his race,” and admonished a black staffer to “be careful what he said to white folks” after he engaged in an argument with a white coworker.
An African-American federal prosecutor, Thomas Figures, also testified that Sessions called him “boy” and said he approved of the Ku Klux Klan until he “found out they smoked pot.”
Sessions denied the accusations. “I am not the Jeff Sessions my detractors have tried to create,” he said in 1986. “I am not a racist. I am not insensitive to blacks. I have supported civil rights activities in my state. I have done my job with integrity, equality and fairness for all.”
AJC’s 1986 statement detailed the episodes recounted during the confirmation proceedings, arguing that they were grounds for the dismissal of his appointment. “Suffice it to say that the sum total of his remarks raises the most serious issues as to whether Mr. Sessions possesses the requisite qualities to serve on the federal bench,” Bookbinder said.
The statement points out that, “The American Jewish Committee’s policy has generally been to abstain from commenting on judicial appointments, but we feel compelled to make one of our rare exceptions in this case.”
The AJC has vowed to uphold a policy of not commenting on any of the nominations during the current round of appointments by Trump, who stunned the political class by defeating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in last week’s presidential election.
The group released a statement affirming this policy of abstaining from commenting after Trump announced he would make former Breitbart editor Stephen Bannon his strategic adviser. The Breitbart website is a popular online destination for white nationalists, which Bannon himself has called “the platform of the alt-right.”
“Presidents get to choose their teams and we do not expect to comment on the appointment of every key advisor,” said the AJC’s assistant executive director for policy, Jason Isaacson.
“In the course of confirmation hearings, there will be ample opportunity to address questions that were raised very publicly – and persuasively – three decades ago. What must also be evaluated are the Senator’s statements and actions in the intervening period – a period in which public attitudes and sensitivities on racial and other matters have evolved. We look forward to that full examination,” Isaacson added in a subsequent statement.
The alt-right is an amorphous designation that includes an array of white nationalists and neo-Nazis. The Breitbart website is widely known for incendiary content. In March, it came under fire for a headline calling anti-Trump Republican Bill Kristol “a renegade Jew.”
This week, a number of Republicans, Democrats and other Jewish organizations denounced the decision to appoint Bannon, saying he represents a brand of populist nationalism that emboldens racists and should not be near the Oval Office.
Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, however, said Israel was looking forward to working with Trump’s entire team, and namechecked Bannon, after meeting with Trump on Thursday.
In a statement on Thursday, AJC chief executive David Harris sought to reaffirm the organization’s principles, but stopped short of addressing the Bannon nod. “We cherish our great nation and the unprecedented freedom and opportunity it affords, including the precious right to vote, free and fair elections, and smooth transfers of power from one administration to another,” he said.
On Friday morning, Trump announced he would nominate Sessions to head the Justice Department. “We currently are not commenting on each appointment,” AJC spokesperson Ken Bandler told The Times of Israel later that afternoon.
The Times of Israel Community.