AFJ Backs Blumenthal Call for Sessions’ Recusal

Washington, D.C., January 4 – Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement in support of  Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s letter asking Sen. Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from voting on his own nomination for Attorney General:

“If Sen. Sessions’ nomination for Attorney General makes it to the Senate floor, then he absolutely must recuse himself from voting on it. Voting for his own nomination would be an inappropriate break with longstanding precedent, and Sen. Sessions should avoid such a self-serving move. We also agree with Sen. Blumenthal’s call for Sen. Sessions to recuse himself from voting on other Cabinet nominations, since if he were confirmed as Attorney General he would be responsible for overseeing the ethics of the people confirmed to these jobs.  It’s vital that the office of the Attorney General maintain public trust and a lack of bias, the appearance of which would be totally undercut by Sen. Sessions’ public support for other officials.”             

As Sen. Blumenthal points out, only six sitting senators have been nominated and confirmed as department heads since 1960 – and not a single one cast a recorded vote on their own nomination.