Hailing from Alabama, Mr Sessions has served as a member of the US Senate for the last two decades and was one of the earliest supporters of Trump’s bid for the White House. Known for his strictly conservative views on liberal touchstone issues like immigration, abortion and marriage equality, his appointment as Attorney General – if approved – will place him at the steering wheel of criminal justice and civil rights policy in the United States and will see him tasked with delivering Trump’s ‘law and order’ campaign platform.  

Hardline on immigration, marriage equality

Widely considered to be one of the most conservative members of the Senate, Mr Sessions is no stranger to controversy and outcry. He has opposed overhauling mandatory minimum prison sentences for low-level drug offences, has supported a federal ban on same-sex marriage, and failed to distance himself along with fellow Republicans from Trump’s controversial suggestion that controls, or even an outright ban, should be applied to Muslim immigration to the US. During the later-campaign controversy in which an audio recording of Trump bragging about ‘grabbing’ women without their consent was leaked to the press, Mr Sessions was reported as having said: ‘I don’t characterise that as sexual assault.’  

Rejected as federal judge

However, it’s Mr Sessions controversial track record on race-related issues that is generating the most chatter in the wake of his appointment. Though he continued to serve as a Justice Department prosecutor for almost 12 years, he was denied his confirmation as a federal judge in 1986 because the Republican Senate tasked with confirming him was concerned about his positions on race. Several of his former Justice Department colleagues testified to his use of racist language during the hearing. One witness recounted that Mr Sessions had called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ‘un-American’ for ‘trying to force civil rights down the throats of people.’ Others recounted that Mr Sessions had joked about being sympathetic towards the Ku Klux Klan.

Sources: New York Times; Washington Post; Vox; CBC