Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made the cover of Time magazine, which reports that “even if his tenure ends tomorrow, Sessions would leave a legacy that will affect millions of Americans.” The magazine says Sessions has “dramatically shifted the orientation of the Justice Department, pulling back from police oversight and civil rights enforcement and pushing a hard-line approach to drugs, gangs and immigration violations.” He has cast aside attempts to rectify inequities in the criminal-justice system in favor of a “maximalist approach to prosecuting and jailing criminals.”
“I am thrilled to be able to advance an agenda that I believe in,” he told a group of federal prosecutors in Lexington, Ky., recently. “I believed in it before I came here, and I’ll believe in it when I’m gone.” Sessions’ liberal critics agree that he’s been remarkably effective, Time says, because he has put the full force of law behind President Trump’s racially coded rhetoric. “The Justice Department is supposed to be protecting people, keeping people safe and affirming our basic rights,” says Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), who testified against Sessions’ confirmation. “But he has rolled back the Justice Department’s efforts to do that.” Ironically, the same critics who despise his policy initiatives are adamant that Trump should not remove him. “Jeff Sessions is not acting in defense of the rights of Americans. He should not be in that job,” Booker says. “But I do not think he should be fired for the reasons Donald Trump would fire him.” Sessions and his supporters, including many in law enforcement, say justice reformers have it backward. Under President Obama, Sessions believes, the DOJ sent all the wrong signals, demoralizing police officers and soft-pedaling the dangers of drugs. He cites the shrinking prison population not as a breakthrough but as a worrisome trend. “We’ve got some space to put some people!” he says.