Sessions Reiterates Opposition To Lynch: ‘Are We Through The Looking Glass?”’

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) grilled attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch on immigration
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) voiced outrage at attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch’s stance on executive amnesty and her answers to his questions about illegal immigrant workers during the second hearing on Lynch’s nomination Thursday.

“I don’t see any need for Congress to confirm somebody to be the chief law enforcement officer of this nation who is at that table insisting that she intends to execute a policy that is contrary to law and to what Congress desires and what the American people desire. And says that someone here unlawfully is as much entitled to a job in this as somebody who is here lawfully. It is just beyond my comprehension,” Sessions said.

Sessions announced Wednesday he would be voting against Lynch’s nomination, following the nominee’s testimony before the committee.

The Alabama lawmaker took issue particularly with Lynch’s answers indicating that she believes President Obama’s executive amnesty to be “legal and constitutional” and that she said that “the right and the obligation to work is one that’s shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here.”

“Are we through the looking glass?” Sessions said during Thursday’s hearing, “Can’t we see plain fact?”

According to Sessions, the issue is no longer about politics, but rather the crucial balance of power in government.

“So everybody wants to talk about the politics, ‘Well the president can do this, he’s shutting down Homeland Security,’ all these complaints but the real question is fundamental: What are we going to do to defend our Constitutional heritage and what will this Congress be able to say to subsequent Congresses if we acquiesce and in these kind of activities,” he said. “I think it has permanent ramifications for the relationships for the branches of government.”

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