U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions has such a poor record on civil rights that, for the first time in U.S. Senate history, a sitting senator will testify against him Wednesday in his bid to become the nation’s next attorney general.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker on Monday said he felt compelled to take the action due to Sessions’ decades-long record opposing civil rights. Georgia Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, along with Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, also intend to testify against Sessions. Hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee begin Tuesday.
“I do not take lightly the decision to testify against a Senate colleague,” Booker told CNN. “But the immense powers of the attorney general combined with the deeply troubling views of this nominee is a call to conscience.”
