Senate Panel Approves Nomination Of Loretta Lynch As Attorney General

Via the New York Times:

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved Loretta E. Lynch to be the next attorney general, sending her nomination to the full Senate for what is likely to be a contentious vote. The panel voted 12 to 8 to advance Ms. Lynch, President Obama’s pick to replace Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. as the nation’s top law enforcement official, with all of the votes against her coming from Republicans. The full Senate will most likely vote in the next week or two. While praising Ms. Lynch’s credentials, Republicans made it clear that their objections to her nomination hinged on her belief in the legality of the president’s executive action on immigration, the same issue that has tied up the approval of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

Republicans voting against: Grassley, Sessions, Cornyn, Lee, Cruz, Vitter, Purdue, Tillis. Republicans voting for: Graham, Flake, Hatch. The Tea People are already calling for the heads of the three "yes" voters.

Sen. Jeff Sessions Has The Alabama Sadz

"I think it’s an unhealthy trend that judges feel that they’re somehow reflecting popular opinion when first of all, it’s not popular opinion, and secondly, who are they to be ruling on cases based on how they feel. The attorney general of the state of Alabama has appealed, which I support. And while a number of courts have held the way [the] Alabama court has, others have not, and to me this line of cases represents an activist judiciary. No Congress has ever passed a law or a constitutional amendment that would ever would ever have been thought to have this result. So, I think the proper role of the federal courts is to follow the law as it is, not as they wish it, might wish it to be." - Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), slamming the very judge that he enthusiastically endorsed during her nomination process. (Tipped by JMG reader David)

FLASHBACK: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

"I thank the Senator from Nevada for his courtesy. I will speak about Callie--known as Ginny--Granade, who will be voted on shortly for the U.S. district judgeship for the southern district of Alabama. Ginny Granade is a nominee of the highest order. President Bush has nominated her to be the judge in the southern district of Alabama. She has the temperament, integrity, legal knowledge, and experience that will make her an outstanding jurist on the Federal bench. I know this from firsthand experience. Ginny is levelheaded, fair minded, trustworthy, and very smart.

"I suggest in the filling of this vacancy with Ginny Granade as a Federal judge, we are going to have done a good day's work. Her experience and practice make me confident that the lawyers and the litigants in the Southern District of Alabama will enjoy and appreciate their opportunity to be in the courtroom she will control and preside over." - Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), in his 2002 Senate speech endorsing the nomination of the judge who yesterday overturned his state's ban on same-sex marriage.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: One year later Sen. Jeff Sessions co-sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 26, also known as the Federal Marriage Amendment: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the Constitution of any State, nor State or Federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups." (Groups!)  Not incidentally, the original text of the Federal Marriage Amendment was written by future (and now former) NOM chairman Robert George, with an assist from failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.

Human Rights Campaign Inducts 19 Members Of Congress Into Hall Of Shame

The Human Rights Campaign today announced the induction of 19 member of Congress into its Hall Of Shame for anti-LGBT actions.

“If you want to understand why LGBT equality has hit a roadblock in Congress, you don't need to look any further than these leaders of anti-LGBT obstruction and animus,” said David Stacy, HRC’s Government Affairs Director. “These members go out of their way to oppose any step toward equal protection under the law or to protect LGBT Americans from violence, discrimination and harassment. They proactively work to undermine existing legal protections and promote anti-LGBT discrimination.”

Released in advance of the HRC Scorecard for the 113th Congress, HRC identified these elected officials as the most anti-equality members of Congress by looking at their voting records in this and previous Congresses, their introduction and co-sponsorships of anti-LGBT legislation, and their public statements. While there are other anti-LGBT members of Congress, these elected officials’ legislative actions, votes and anti-LGBT vitriol unfortunately marks them with a modern day scarlet letter.

The only Democrat on the list, Rep. Mike McIntrye, has signed Rep. Randy Weber's laughably doomed bill that would limit the federal government to only recognizing same-sex marriages that are legally conducted in the state where the married couple resides. McIntrye is retiring after the current term.

GOP Introduces Bill To Impeach Obama Over Potential Use Of Force Against Syria

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) has introduced a House resolution calling for the impeachment of President Obama over the "unauthorized use of the military" should he work with NATO to orchestrate air strikes against Syria. Be advised that the linked report is from Russia Today:

An American military attack on Syria could effectively lead to the impeachment of President Barack Obama. Congressmen say that any war without congressional authorization would be “unconstitutional”. Republican Representative Walter B. Jones Jr. has come up with the resolution demanding Obama’s impeachment in case his administration starts another military action without the approval of Congress. This came as a reaction to the American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announcing that in order to carry out the offensive, the US military needs permission from the UN and NATO alone. Jones’s resolution states that the prime authority to rule on the attack is the US Congress, but not international bodies be it NATO or UN.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is quoted in World Net Daily: "I’m all for having international support, but I’m really baffled by the idea that somehow an international assembly provides a legal basis for the United States military to be deployed in combat. They can provide no legal authority. The only legal authority that’s required to deploy the United States military is of the Congress and the president and the law and the Constitution."

RELATED: On at least 125 occasions, the United States engaged in military actions without the prior approval of Congress. None of those actions resulted in the impeachment of a president.

GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions Grills Solicitor General Nominee Over DOMA

And it goes exactly as you'd expect.

GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions Takes Odd DADT Question About Gay High School Athletes

The interviewer was trying to make a comparison between presumably tough soldiers and high school athletes who may be showering with gay students, but it's not clear that Sessions really got the point.

(Via - Matt Comer)

Kagan: I Oppose Don't Ask, Don't Tell

At her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, today nominee Elena Kagan strongly stated her continuing opposition to DADT, much to the annoyance of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Later Kagan told Sessions that "One thing I do know is that my politics would be, must be, have to be completely separate from my judging."

Bishops Oppose Immigration Equality

A group of elderly transvestites in embroidered gowns is opposing immigration equality for same-sex couples.

The long-standing fight over the country's estimated 36,000 same sex couples of two nationalities is a small but emotional part of the debate over immigration reform. But including same-sex couples in the mix could make it harder to pass an immigration overhaul. A key ally in past immigration fights, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said it would not support a measure that has a same-sex provision. Writing to Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., the organization said the provision would "erode the institution of marriage and family by according marriage-like immigration benefits to same sex relationships." Other groups say that it is often difficult to verify the validity of same-sex relationships if one of the partners comes from a country that does not recognize or document same-sex unions.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is leading the opposition to immigration equality, saying it redefines marriage and allows for fraud.

Sen. Jeff Sessions Submit Three Amendments To Hate Crimes Act

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has submitted three amendments to the Matthew Shepard Act in an attempt to undo support. HRC Backstory reports:

The first Sessions Amendment would allow the death penalty to be applied in hate crimes cases under some circumstances. This Amendment is unnecessary and is a poison pill designed to kill the bill. The Amendment is being offered by and supported by Senators who oppose the Matthew Shepard Act. It’s ironic that the very Senators who have falsely argued that this bill would put clergy in jail because of their beliefs think that those same clergy should be subject to the death penalty.

The second Sessions Amendment would place an additional burden on the Justice Department to revise its long established guidelines for hate crimes cases. This Amendment is unnecessary. The Department already contains well-established, clear and precise guidelines to govern cases involving bias-motivated violence that work well.

Finally, the third Sessions Amendment would provide additional penalties for crimes involving servicemembers or their families. This Amendment is unnecessary. Existing statutes already provide special penalties on attacks against members of the Armed Services and veterans. In addition, the vague language of the Amendment is problematic. The Amendment provides for additional penalties for injuring the property of a serviceman or immediate family member. The scope of “family member” or what constitutes an “injury” to their property is unclear.

Late last Thursday the Senate voted to add the Matthew Shepard Act to a defense appropriations bill that includes funding for a fighter jet that President Obama opposes. That issue remains to be resolved.

Sen. Jeff Sessions Makes Kids Cry

At Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of the Uniting American Families Act, Shirley Tan plead eloquently against her pending deportation as her 10 year-old son wept behind her. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions was quite unsympathetic.

As you can see in the video below, one of Tan's children started crying within seconds of the start of her testimony. At the sight of this, Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy stopped the hearing and asked Tan if her son might want to sit in another room, where presumably a Senate staffer would console him for the duration of what was clearly an emotionally fraught experience. For most people, the sight of a 12-year-old boy in tears at the prospect of his mother being deported halfway around the world would invoke some sympathy. Unmoved, however, was Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions, ranking minority member of the Committee and the only Republican to bother to attend the hearing. At the sight of the weeping boy, according to a Senate staffer who was at the hearing, Sessions leaned towards one of his aides and sighed, "Enough with the histrionics."

The UAFA hearing has spawned furious opposition from the nation's right-wing, who claim the act is an end run around DOMA.

GOP Senator Says He Could Support An Openly Gay SCOTUS Nominee

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) could see himself supporting a SCOTUS nominee with "homosexual tendencies" (whatever that means) provided the candidate is properly qualified and doesn't bring any personal, religious, or moral agenda to the job. Uh, wow?

Peter LaBarbera loses what's left of his tiny bovine spongiform-addled mind:

Welcome to the new “Sexual Diversity” landscape created by decades of homosexual activism — with its essentially anti-Christian, anti-Biblical ethos. Liberal opinion-making elites like MSNBC’s Mark Halperin below now treat homosexual perversion (oops, sorry, “sexual orientation”) as part of America’s “minority” tapestry — eligible for all the “diversity” demands — read: quotas — of other (genuine) minority groups. Identity politics and affirmative action are bad enough with real minorities; they will become unbearable once expanded to include advocates and practitioners of changeable sexual sin — which is what an open and proudly “gay” Supreme Court justice would be.