Kyle Barry, policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, highlighted in a Medium post a 2010 letter from Sessions about how completely a judicial nominee filled out the Senate committee questionnaire.
At the time, Sessions sought to postpone the nominee’s hearing to maintain the integrity of the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities, Barry wrote.
“Sessions said that the failure to report a full list of speeches, panel discussions, and publications showed ‘extraordinary disregard for the Committee’s constitutional role,’ and an ‘unwillingness to take seriously [the] obligation to complete these basic forms’ that ‘is potentially disqualifying,’” Barry wrote.
“In other words, Sessions omitted the very sort of material that he once deemed essential before a confirmation hearing could take place.”
Whether it will change anything is another question. Grassley, who can be cantankerous, appears to have dug in his heels on the timing of the Sessions hearing.
Sessions could be confirmed with just the support of his fellow Republicans in the Senate — since a simple majority is all that is required — and none of 51 other Republicans have expressed publicly any concern.
Read the full article here
