Action: Oppose Jeff Sessions for Attorney General

[teaotter]

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for cabinet nominee Jeff Sessions is scheduled for this Tuesday, so there's not a lot of time left for calling your senators.

I'm sure we've all heard about Sessions's racist comments and his actions against civil rights legislation. I want to point out two other reasons to oppose his confirmation -- especially if you live in a state with legal medical or recreational marijuana.

1) Sessions strongly opposes the legalization of marijuana, and as attorney general, there would be little to keep him from returning to the usual "war on drugs" for marijuana possession and use, even in states where it's legal. Marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug by the DEA -- meaning that it is considered to be both dangerous and to have no medical use -- and is currently only avoiding federal prosecution because of a government memo, not law.

2) Adding to the problems of #1, Sessions also supports asset-forfeiture laws, which allow law enforcement departments to seize assets (like cars and houses) without any suspect being convicted of (or even charged with) criminal activity. These laws are subject to large-scale abuse, especially since the law enforcement agencies get to keep the money they make selling off the assets. Asset forfeiture is frequently used for drug cases.

Now imagine the combination of those laws being enforced in states with legalized marijuana, where growers and dispensaries are licensed by the state -- providing a ready database of targets and their assets for seizure.

WHAT TO DO

Call your senators, especially if they sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee or if you live in a state with legalized marijuana. [See the first comment to this post for a list of the current committee members.]

Sample script: "Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Jeff Sessions as our next Attorney General because of his views on legalized marijuana and asset forfeiture laws. Sessions is completely out of step with [the majority of Americans][the people of this state], and he should not be our next Attorney General."

(If you don't already have your reps contact info, this post has links for finding them.)

Comments

[tanaqui]

Thanks for posting this and giving some of the reasons for opposing Sessions.

We're going to be doing a series of posts on each of the confirmation hearings a day or two beforehand, so people have time to call their reps before the hearings.

Further information for Sessions' hearing:

Attorny General Nomination - Senate Judiciary Committee

When: Tuesday 10 January and Wednesday 11 January from 9.30am

Committee Members: (as at 6 Jan) Chairman: Senator Chuck Grassley (R - IA), Ranking Member - Senator Dianne Feinstein (D - CA), Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R - UT), Senator Lindsey Graham (R - SC), Senator John Cornyn (R - TX), Senator Michael S. Lee (R - UT), Senator Ted Cruz (R - TX), Senator Ben Sasse (R - NE), Senator Jeff Flake (R - AZ), Senator Mike Crapo (R - ID), Senator Thom Tillis (R - NC), Senator John Kennedy (R - LA), Senator Patrick Leahy (D - VT), Senator Dick Durbin (D - IL), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D - RI), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D - MN), Senator Al Franken (D - MN), Senator Christopher A. Coons (D - DE), Senator Richard Blumenthal (D - CT), Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D - HI)

(The details of the committee members on the websites for each committee seem to be a little out of date and haven't been updated with the new members who have joined the committee in this session.)

[teaotter]

Thank you for the update on the committee!

It looks like there are 2 Republicans on that list from medical marijuana states -- Kennedy from Louisiana, and Flake from Arizona. But I think ALL the Democrats are, according to this map.

[tanaqui]

Oh, that's very encouraging, since that means a majority of committee members are from medical marijuana states. (There are 11 Republicans and 9 Democrats.)

[teaotter]

That is very encouraging!

[tanaqui]

Ugh, and I messed up the links in that comment because I forgot GoogleDocs thinks defaulting to stupid smart quotes is a good idea.

Anyway, the correct links are:
Attorney General Nomination - Senate Judiciary Committee

Find the current membership for any senate committee

*fixes smart quotes in rest of GoogleDoc with draft posts*

[teaotter]

Sorry for edit-blocking your comment!

[tanaqui]

No worries - serves me right for not checking the links properly before I posted them!

[sathari]

I'm not sure how to frame this as a talking point, but the kind of asset-forfeiture laws Sessions supports are a 4th Amendment violation in the making. (Seriously, when you are a Republica politician whom George Will thinks is over the top, maybe you should step back.)

Maybe something like (borrowing and adding to your script here), "Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Jeff Sessions as our next Attorney General because of his views on legalized marijuana and asset forfeiture laws. The kind of asset-forfeiture laws he supports often violate due process and involve the unconstitutional search and seizure of property according to the 4th Amendment. Sessions is completely out of step with [the majority of Americans][the people of this state], and he should not be our next Attorney General."

[teaotter]

Yeah. I focused on the marijuana aspect because it makes for a shorter talking point. But asset forfeiture is something we desperately need to outlaw, at both the state and federal level. It's just more complicated to talk about.

[tanaqui]

Could you frame it as something like "Sessions is completely out of step with [the majority of Americans][the people of this state], and shows a lack of concern for due process and upholding the Constitution, and he should not be our next Attorney General."

[sathari]

I like this!

[sathari]

*nodnod* Agreed on all counts!