Senate Confirms Jeff Sessions as Next Attorney General of the United States
02/08/2017 02/08/2017 Keith Mansur1598 Views De Vos, Jeff Sessions Approved, Pence, Senate Approves Sessions
By Keith Mansur
Get ready for a bumpy ride. The new Attorney General of the United States, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, has no love for marijuana, and has a history of being a lackey of the leader he serves. The vote on Sessions was 52 for and 47 against. It was a party line vote except for Joe Manchin (D WV) who voted yes. The vote was taken at 7:00 pm EST after another full day and night of debate over the nominee.
He has made comments regarding marijuana and people that use it which expose his disdain for the herb. He has said "Good people don't smoke marijuana," and also confessed once that he felt the Ku Klux Klan was "okay" until he realized they smoked cannabis.
What's most disturbing is that he has shown in testimony and his actions that he will do the bidding of the master he serves. In at least one case he disregarded demands of the U.S. Justice Department and went against against recommendations of practically every other legal mind in the nation.
This was exposed in his confirmation hearing January 10th when he responded to Delaware Senator Chris Coons (D) questions regarding the use of the hitching post on male and female prisoners in Alabama. Sen. Sessions sanctioned the practice throughout his term as Alabama Attorney General (1995-97) and long after every other state had stopped and after the Justice department sent memorandums explaining it was torture and unconstitutional. Alabama continued the practice until the U.S. Supreme Court finally concluded in 2002 that Alabama's use of the hitching post violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition in the constitution on cruel and unusual punishment.
Sen. Sessions explained that the Alabama Governor wanted to continue the practice of using the hitching post, and he deferred to his judgment, stating, "That was an issue by the governor who campaigned and promised that prisoners should work and he was determined to make that happen."
Sen. Sessions equated being punished on a hitching post as a type of unproductive "work".
"I think good employment of a prisoner is a healthy thing. I do not favor, personally this kind of work. I think it should be more productive work…work that can get an individual to develop a discipline the can use when they go on to private life after they leave prison."
Watch the entire exchange on C-Span here:
Senator Jeff Sessions will do whatever his boss wants, and that should scare the hell out of the marijuana industry across America. Donald Trump is a loose cannon, and he could decide to shut down recreational cannabis at the drop of another executive order. Unfortunately for us, he will have little resistance from his likely next Attorney General, whether the enforcement is constitutional, affordable, or justifiable in any way.
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Keith Mansur
Keith Mansur is the founder, publisher, and editor of Oregon Cannabis Connection newspaper. The print publication has been serving Oregon since 2010. He has been a Oregon medical marijuana patient, grower, and caregiver since 2006. Find him on Facebook or email him at occnewspaper420@gmail.com
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