Press Contact:
Elliot Levy
Press Contact
202-800-7409
Release Date: Thursday, February 9, 2017
Following the Senate’s vote to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for United States attorney general, Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block, Director of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, released the following statement:
“Senator Jeff Sessions’ confirmation as attorney general is a disastrous outcome for all those who believe in racial, social and economic justice, including the vast majority of the American Jewish community. Sessions has shown every indication that he will use the U.S. Department of Justice to bolster Trump’s hateful agenda targeting America’s most vulnerable populations, including the Muslim community, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals and people of color.
The Senators who cast their votes in support of Sessions today also voted to endorse the radical policies the Trump Administration is seeking to implement. They voted for the dangerous and discriminatory Muslim ban; mass deportations of immigrants; and investigations of non-existent voter fraud, which are used to justify widespread and deliberate disenfranchisement. Further, the attempts of Senate Republicans to silence Sen.Elizabeth Warren because she dared to point out Sessions’ dismal record on civil rights are truly shameful. Those Senators stand firmly on the wrong side of history.
We are deeply disappointed by those who would toss aside the values we hold dear, and we will not stand idly by as President Trump and Jeff Sessions seek to roll back several generations’ worth of progress toward becoming a more just, free and equitable society.”
