WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement outlining why he will vote against the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions to be United States Attorney General.

“As America’s top lawyer, the Attorney General plays a pivotal role in both protecting the safety and security of our nation and safeguarding the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens. Yet Senator Sessions has opposed voting rights legislation, immigration reform, the Violence Against Women Act, criminal justice and police reform, hate crimes legislation, paycheck fairness, repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ and the Ramos and Liu National Blue Alert, among many others. His perspective on what should be settled law and pending legal matters has me gravely concerned. It’s unfair to the hardworking employees of the Department of Justice, who work every day to keep Americans safe from harm and protect Americans’ rights, to have an Attorney General who questions their very mission. I also have serious reservations about how Senator Sessions would advise President Trump on his harmful and cruel executive order targeting Muslims, his plan to force local law enforcement officers to help carry out federal immigration raids, or his proposal to investigate the fiction of ‘voter fraud’ instead of voter suppression and disenfranchisement in the 2016 presidential election. Senator Sessions seeks to turn back the clock on the values we hold dear and I cannot support this nomination.” 

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