Politics
Dems Praise Yates For Doing The Exact Thing They Feared Sessions Would Do
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The Democratic National Committee released a statement praising acting Attorney General Sally Yates for refusing to enforce President Donald Trump’s executive order on the basis of her personal beliefs, possibly requiring a reversal in current arguments against Trump appointee Sen. Jeff Sessions.
Democratic members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary questioned Sessions several times about his view of Roe v. Wade, as well as his views on other issues, e.g. a potential “Muslim ban.”
The questioning — led by Ranking Member Sen. Dianne Feinstein — primarily focused on Sessions’ willingness to act independently of Trump, and his own personal beliefs. Sessions repeatedly separated his personal views from the ideals of the office of Attorney General during his testimony, particularly on the issue of abortion.
“It has been the law of the land for quite some time,” Sessions said about the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on abortion. “It deserves respect and I would respect it and follow it.”
WATCH:
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that bans certain individuals from traveling to the United States from seven countries the Obama administration targeted as the most likely source of terrorism. Yates could have argued that Trump’s order was illegal, if there wasn’t already a law on the books which provided for such a plan. Democrats and Republicans both passed a bill in 2015 that severely limited travel visas from the same seven countries Trump listed in his order.
Yates decided not to enforce the executive action, citing her belief that the order constituted a so-called “Muslim ban.”
“I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right,” Yates wrote in the official statement. “At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the Executive Order is lawful.”
“Donald Trump can try to silence heroic patriots like Sally Yates who dare to speak truth to power about his illegal anti-Muslim ban that emboldens terrorists around the globe. But he cannot silence the growing voices of an American people now wide awake to his tyrannical presidency,” the DNC statement read.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went so far as to say that Yates represented a “profile in courage,” echoing the book believed to be written by former president John Kennedy by the same name.
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