The vote fell strictly along party lines.
A day after they delayed a committee vote on Sessions, all nine Democrats — including Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. — voted against Sessions’ nomination. The 11 Republicans on the committee voted in favor of the Alabama senator, thereby sending his nomination to the Senate floor for a vote by the full chamber.
Democrats were hoping to provoke opposition to Sessions following the public outcry over President Donald Trump’s immigrant travel ban, which was molded by former Sessions aides and comported with the immigration ideology the nominee has long expressed. The executive order froze immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries and instituted a ban on Syrian refugees entering the country.
While some Republican legislators offered varying levels of criticism of the Trump order, that frustration did not translate into any opposition against Sessions. His nomination can be confirmed without support from any Democrats, and is expected to pass out of the chamber along party lines in the coming days.
In addition to Sessions’ hardline immigration policies, Democrats raised concerns that his record demonstrated an unwillingness to defend vulnerable populations if confirmed to lead the Department of Justice.
In the Senate, Sessions voted against legislation that strengthened protections for the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities. His opposition to a key enforcement mechanism in the Voting Rights Act has caused concern that he would work to roll back access to the ballot in African-American communities.
Sessions has also signaled that he would reverse various Justice Department actions initiated during President Barack Obama’s time in office, including the phasing out of private prisons and the increased use of federal consent decrees to reform troubled police departments.
Leahy and other committee members have also expressed concern over Sessions’ reluctance to pursue potential Justice Department investigations of Trump on a range of matters, from his myriad business entanglements across the globe to potential collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government.
As Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reported the results of the committee vote Wednesday morning, a protester stood up in the hearing room and shouted, “Shame!”
“You have furthered the nomination of a man who will not protect the vulnerable,” the woman continued, as Capitol Police escorted her out of the room.
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