Republican Who Was Too "Racially Insensitive" 23 Years Ago Set To Be Top GOPer on Judiciary Committee

Well this is very interesting....  From The Hill:
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) will take over the ranking member position on the Senate Judiciary Committee after striking a deal with his more senior colleagues over the weekend, sources confirm to The Hill.
[...]
The move is likely to please conservative organizations around Washington who are gearing up for a fight over the eventual nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. The departure of Specter, who had long been one of the leading GOP voices on judicial appointees, had robbed the Republican conference of an obvious spokesman.

Conservative groups, who have already held conference calls to begin organizing a response to President Obama's eventual nominee, were wary of putting Grassley atop the Judiciary Committee if a fight were to break out. The organizations viewed Sessions as the better spokesman, and more likely to lead the Republican charge in questioning the nominee.
Then the AP did a little digging on this developing story: 
Sessions, a hard-line conservative whose 1986 nomination for a federal judgeship was rejected by the Senate, appears to be in line for the job after the previous ranking member, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, left the GOP this week to become a Democrat.
[...]
Sessions would bring a unique perspective to the committee. Two decades ago, the Senate rejected his nomination as a U.S. district judge by President Ronald Reagan over allegations that his career as a lawyer and U.S. attorney in Alabama showed a pattern of being racially insensitive. Ironically, it was Specter who helped seal his defeat by joining with Democratic opposition.
So let me see if I got this straight.  Sessions' nomination to be a Federal Judge was rejected by a REPUBLICAN Senate back in 1986 for being "racially insensitive."  So now the GOP turns around and makes Sessions the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee so that he can fight President Obama's future Supreme Court nomination.  Makes sense to me....

The current Republican Party is hell bent on destroying itself.  How and why could they possibly pick Sessions for this position.  They had to have known that the first thing Democrats would use against Sessions was this fact.  How can he possibly make any kind of argument against Obama's pick with out it being rightfully pointed out that his fellow Republicans once thought him a bit racist.  How could they have missed this.  Oh wait, I'm giving them too much credit I fear.  To figure this out would require the GOP to actually do so research and work.  The Party of No has been lacking in these departments as of late.

Posted by Matt at 5/4/2009 1:30 PM
Categories: Politics
Tags: Judiciary Racist Judiciary Committee. Jeff Sessions Supreme Court Republican Battle SCOTUS Federal Judge Senate GOP Confirmation
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