Jeff Sessions

Jeff Sessions (born December 24, 1946, Selma, Alabama, U.S.) is an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. attorney general (2017–18) in the administration of Pres. Donald Trump. He previously represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate (1997–2017).

Sessions grew up in Hybart, Alabama, where he was active in the Boy Scouts, eventually becoming an Eagle Scout. After earning a bachelor’s degree (1969) from Huntingdon College, he studied law at the University of Alabama (J.D., 1973). During that time, he married (1969) Mary Blackshear, and the couple later had three children.

After law school, Sessions joined the U.S. Army Reserve (1973–86), rising to the rank of captain. He practiced law in Russellville and then Mobile before becoming an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama (1975–77). In 1981 Pres. Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. attorney for the same region, and Sessions served in that post until 1993. He was nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court in 1986, but the Senate Judiciary Committee did not advance the nomination for a vote after it was claimed that he had made racially insensitive comments, among other allegations. In 1994 Sessions was elected attorney general of the state of Alabama, and he took office the following year. In 1996 he won a race for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He entered the Senate in 1997, marking the first time since Reconstruction that two Republican senators from Alabama had served concurrently.

Sessions was considered a conservative, though one allied with the “establishment” wing of the Republican Party and its Senate membership. He distinguished himself as a sharp critic of federal spending programs, and he strongly supported the tax cuts enacted during the presidency of George W. Bush. He broke with the administration and party leadership, however, over the emergency stabilization, or “bailout,” of leading banks in 2008, arguing that it was a violation of the separation of powers, and he later voted against the Bush administration’s economic stimulus programs. In turn, Sessions strongly opposed most of Pres. Barack Obama’s keynote programs, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010). He also was against Democratic efforts at immigration reform, especially the establishment of a path to citizenship for any applicant who was in the United States illegally. On social issues, Sessions notably opposed abortion and same-sex marriage.

During the 2016 presidential race, Sessions was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, who won the party’s nomination and ultimately the election. In November 2016 President-elect Trump nominated Sessions to serve as U.S. attorney general. His confirmation hearings began in January 2017 and proved highly contentious. Much of the opposition focused on his previous handling of racial issues, and some questioned his ability to protect civil rights. Sessions’s supporters, however, accused critics of “twisting” his record. He was ultimately confirmed, 52–47, in February. Shortly thereafter he resigned from the Senate and was sworn in as attorney general.

In March 2017 Sessions asked for the resignation of 46 Obama-appointed U.S. district attorneys. Though such dismissals were a common practice for new administrations, they tended to be staggered, and the en masse firing—especially of those who had previously been told that they would be retained—sparked criticism. The following month Sessions oversaw a hiring freeze at the Department of Justice amid plans to restructure the DOJ.

However, much of Sessions’s work was overshadowed by the growing investigation into possible collusion between Trump surrogates and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election campaign. In March 2017 it was revealed that Sessions had failed to disclose at his confirmation hearings that he had twice met with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, during the campaign. Shortly thereafter Sessions recused himself from the Russia inquiry. In May, however, he recommended that FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing the investigation, be dismissed, stating in a letter to Trump that the FBI leadership needed “a fresh start”; the president fired Comey that same day. The following month Sessions testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee and denied colluding with Russia, calling such accusations “appalling and detestable.” However, he refused to answer questions about his conversations with Trump, saying that it would be “inappropriate.”

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Sessions’s relationship with Trump grew increasingly strained as the president criticized both his recusal from the Russia probe and his refusal to investigate Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton. Trump’s dissatisfaction led to growing speculation that Sessions would be fired, and, a day after the midterm elections in November 2018, the attorney general tendered his immediate resignation at the request of Trump. A year later Sessions announced that he was running for his old Senate seat. His campaign was hampered by vocal opposition from Trump, and in the Republican primary runoff in 2020, Sessions was easily defeated by Tommy Tuberville, a candidate endorsed by the president.