Jeff Sessions Quotations

more than anybody that I know. he was committed to the ideals of law.

My advice to you is this. Keep your famous good humor, take your time, and explain the procedural posture of the cases and exactly how you ruled as a judge, or the position you took as a lawyer. Americans know these matters are often complex and will appreciate your answers.

Let me tell you why I wouldn't vote for Ruth Bader Ginsburg,

I have great confidence in her integrity and legal skills, but her judicial philosophy is not that well known. I think there will be some nervousness among grass-roots Americans who are unhappy with the activist tendency of the court, ... A lot will depend on how she testifies and how her philosophy of the law is revealed.

When this much money gets put out this fast, there's a real danger,

lending support to efforts by foreign governments to use their antitrust laws against Microsoft.

She will need to articulate a vision of the Constitution and the role of a judge that is sound or she could be in trouble with the Republican senators,

I would suggest we'd better spend our time investigating how a top-secret program such as this, a program fully shared with congressional leaders, was breached and provided to the media and revealed throughout the world.

has the very natural qualities to make a superior judge.

I'd be pleased if you could clone John Roberts,

I feel strongly that the military deserves a lot of credit here.

I am bitterly disappointed that Anniston Army Depot did not gain personnel from Red River Army Depot as the Defense Department had recommended,

I am disappointed that the Democratic leader Harry Reid has apparently urged his colleagues to vote no on this nomination. ... I think it may affect votes on the floor to make this a leadership issue.

If a judge has strong political views, it is perfectly appropriate to inquire whether those views would affect their legal reasoning and cause them not to be objective and fair.

If a lawyer was too aggressive in requiring deletion of things they shouldn't have, Congress should look into that.

If a decision is wrong, it ought to be reversed, in my way of thinking.

I have been of the view that if we in Congress can't balance the budget, we shouldn't approve a pay raise.

Hurricane Katrina left many of our residents in need of immediate assistance, and I am glad to announce that Secretary (Elaine) Chao has moved quickly to help out our state,

he shouldn't be committing to case after case.

He's a superb nominee. I can't imagine senators will find any circumstances in his background that would justify denying him a vote.

The people rightly demand judges who follow, not make, law,

He may lose some effectiveness as an independent,

I think conservatives do not have confidence she has a well-formed judicial philosophy, and they are afraid she might drift and be a part of the activist group like Justice Souter has, ... She will need to articulate a vision of the Constitution and the role of a judge that is sound or she could be in trouble with the Republican senators.

I might have liked a different type nominee myself, but that's the president's choice.

I was uneasy about it, and I just explained my unease, ... I shared with Dan my observations, the good and the bad. I think the American people at this point in time would desire a person who is steeped in constitutional jurisprudence, particularly the people who supported President Bush.

It is not necessary to have a mandated, statutorily appointed czar.

I think it's real good news that these huge sophisticated companies are considering Selma, ... It says Selma is open for business, being evaluated by world class companies. I think that's nothing but good news. It is just a top priority of mine to urge top-flight businesses, world-class businesses to consider Selma for economic expansion.

I think it's clear to me that what - when I look at the tea party, it's about one-third Democrat, one-third Republican, one-third independents. But 100 percent of them are sure that the agenda that is taking place in Washington, D.C., is about extremism and is about bankrupting this country and every state within this country.

Well, first of all, let's go right to it. We're going to balance the budget. We should live within our own means, and we should read the bills and work with the American people.

Thus, he brought a renewed emphasis on the rights of victims as well as a new respect for the law officer who works to make this a safe place to live, ... As a young prosecutor, I remember being thrilled to read Chief Justice Rehnquist's dissents in criminal law cases, often lone dissents, that in some cases have become majority opinions of the court under his leadership.

We have all the hallmarks here of a rush to spend money. We have got to be careful that this does not become a feeding frenzy. ... This is our grandchildren's money.

who happen to speak with an accent, a southern accent.

We have a little bit of a problem now with confidence in that commission, ... For her to continue to play a key role in it when she herself really should be one of the people being reviewed is difficult for me to swallow.

We are not going hog-wild restraining American liberties.

We are not going hog wild restraining American liberties. In fact, the trend has been to provide more and more protections.

When figures start flowing up to $200 billion, I have concerns, ... $1 billion is a lot of money.

... When he elevates terrorists over other people who may well deserve pardons much more, or having their sentence cut much more, he has abused his power and abused his office,

Committees would have longer to work on them. We need to do a biennial budget.

Yes, you have some have some complainers in the Congress, but we voted to send our soldiers to this effort. Nobody else authorized you to go; we voted to support it, ... And I would also note that terrorists aren't happy with you either.

I've seen it time and time again, people do not testify against innocent people, they, reluctantly, only testify against guilty people.

We've put our treasure and our moral authority and the lives of our soldiers to this effort. A lot of Americans wish we'd never been there and it hadn't cost so much ... but that's not the question.

We should do a good enforcement bill and leave the administration to execute it, then in the meantime, talk seriously about what we want to do about the future.

I want a classical judge who does not allow their personal views or social views to impact their decision-making process,

Progress will require a united federal, state and local effort.

The good news is that the BRAC process has now confirmed Anniston as the department's Center for Industrial and Technical Excellence. This means that Anniston's mission and work force have been affirmed and the depot remains poised to continue to enhance its workload and employees,

That's why I did all I could to support Lockheed Martin's selection process when it chose Selma as its designated site. That selection in itself certainly speaks well for Selma. While the Air Force, after completing its process, decided otherwise, I certainly believed that Lockheed and Selma's capabilities were unmatched.

That's just an excuse to delay. I'll be there. I live in Mobile. I will be ready to go forward,

Are you going to get busy now to enforce existing law?

To remain competitive in the global economy, American industry needs a well trained work force with skills to meet today's advanced industry and manufacturing challenges.

You pay a price when you have an objective sentencing system. That is, nothing is perfect.

This is a terrible idea. It will add expense throughout the system and will not benefit patients who need it when they need it.

Oh, they'll seize on the report, ... They'll find one line. If there is one line out of 10,000, they'll be something to say gotcha with.

It's time to go and put this problem on the table and deal with it. If he can't meet that challenge, maybe he's not the person for the job.

It offends me that we have this political game of more and more gun laws and less and less prosecution.

They did not handle it as they should have.

Iraq assumes responsibility for its own future... They have got to step up.

Chief Justice Rehnquist understood that liberty requires order and further that our Constitution always recognizes that fact,

I don't know how to read him. I don't know what he's going to do. It just made me know that we don't know what he's going to do. I don't think the president knows what he's going to do.

They want us to be careful, manage our money well and get our troops home as soon as we possibly can.

It's amazing we can't get these officials confirmed. They're tying it to an unrelated matter about judges to in fact hamper -- actually undermine -- the ability of the Department of Justice to function. It's really irresponsible,

Are we going to demand that they come before the Senate Judiciary Committee and renounce their faith before they become a federal judge?

The group who spoke here the other day did not represent the American ideals of freedom, liberty and spreading that around the world. I frankly don't know what they represent, other than to blame America first.

The goal of this Nation, I so strongly believe, is to be a preeminent world power. We have to understand what comes with that: The responsibility to be strong.

The Republicans are legitimately concerned about nominations because of the statements of Democrats this year. They talked about wholesale blocking of Bush's nominees.

This may be, I hope, a turning point in our legal system,

There's a legitimate concern among those who have really cared about the judiciary that she does not have a sufficient and well-formed philosophy of adjudication,

This is a very risky thing. We should complete this work today.

I believe FEMA has been a little slow to respond.

I could not be more pleased and proud that Judge Bill Pryor was part of the group that were agreed upon by those members of the Senate to get an up-or-down vote. Bill Pryor is the kind of judge America ought to have.

I do think the American people are paying attention to this, and it's going to be a lot harder for these hard left-wing groups to get away with smearing a nominee,

I don't think that program in any form is going to pass anytime soon.

I don't think the people of my state want us to waste money. They want us to help people in need, ... they will spend your money before you know what happened to it.

We know that a ready amnesty tends to be an invitation to more illegal entries.

We need to be protecting American citizens who are here, out of work, and hurting today-minorities, Blacks and Whites and all colors and races that are hurting today with high unemployment, but we seem to be more focused on how we can ram through this Senate a bill that would legalize millions and create an even more robust guest worker program. There are not enough jobs now. Give me a break.

Encouraging self-sufficiency must be a bedrock for our immigration policy, with the goal of reducing poverty, strengthening the family, and promoting our economic values. But Administration officials and their policies are working actively against this goal.

People tell me, "Well, you understand where the voters are, Jeff, where the votes are, or what people are thinking," and they'll sort of - in a complimentary way. And it's a bit of an acknowledgement that we've been blind to some of these issues for too long.

Because a person chooses to leave their home country and come to the United States does not necessarily mean they have the right to demand that their father or their other extended family members be allowed to come if they don't otherwise meet the standard.

At least 99.92% of illegal immigrants and visa overstays without known crimes on their records did not face removal.

You're not supposed to be admitted to America if you're likely to be a charge on the public - if you're going to need government aid to take care of yourself ... It [2006 immigration bill] failed because it did not do what it said it would do... End the illegality first. Then we can wrestle with how to treat compassionately people who have been in America for a long time.

[Donald] Trump is going to appeal better to African Americans, Hispanics, and others than previous Republican candidates because he's talking about what they want: a fair chance to have a better life economically.

Marriage has been defined by every legislature that has ever sat in the United States from every State, now 50 States, the same way, but now we have unelected judges altering and changing that fundamental institution.

All soldiers who serve their country and put their lives at risk need to know that if something happens to them, their families will be well taken care of. That's the bond we have with our military men and women and their families.

We need to give them [the Justice Department] as much power as we can without eroding fundamental liberties.

Those policies - more taxes, more regulation, more debt, more spending, more government - will make American worse. It just will, in my view.

I certainly believe that improving our intelligence is of important national interest.

In retrospect there were failures enough to go around. There were failures before the storm and failures after the storm.

We believe that people should wait their time, and people should be able to be accepted here - over a million a year - in an orderly process, not a disorderly process, and that we should not be rewarding those who violate the law, and making even harder for those who try to comply with the law.

I think Donald Trump is moving to - and will continue to move to the economic argument, as to why what he's doing is - represents a commitment to stand up to big business, to international corporations who favor more immigration and lower wages - that's what they favor - and a defense of the interest of the American people who go to work every day.

How can we vote for a bill [S.744] that our own CBO says will reduce average wages in America for 12 years, increase unemployment for 7 years, and reduce per capita GNP growth over 25 years? A bill that will admit 30 million people to permanent legal status in the next 10 years? That will dramatically increase the annual immigration flow, and will double the guest worker flow?

Bin Laden, who was in his country, attacked and damaged our Pentagon, and killed our soldiers right out here at the Pentagon. But his pentagon no longer exists. It is rubble.

We don't pay judges to think; we pay judges to rule on the law.

People are not doing well financially. I mean, wages are down from 2000. They're down from 2007. 2000 - down. Not going - they're below what they were in 2000. People are hurting. Things aren't going well for them.

The civil libertarians among us would rather defend the constitution than protect our nation's security.

This [Gang of Eight bill (S.744)] is far, far too many low-skilled workers that are going to take jobs and pull down wages of people unemployed and underemployed right now.

The United States has the burden to lead for peace. And not just peace - we need peace with justice, a much harder goal.

There's a lot of overconfidence about this bill. We're going to expose it. It will not pass.

Amnesty will not help balance our budget ... In fact, a large-scale amnesty is likely to add trillions of dollars to the debt over time, accelerate Medicare's and Social Security's slide into insolvency and put enormous strain on our public-assistance programs.

I think the people who go to work every day don't feel like Washington cares a whit about them,and, actually, they're executing policies that are bad for them.

Ending the lawlessness at the border? I don't believe a fourth-generation Hispanic thinks that's evil. I don't think an African American thinks there's anything wrong with protecting their jobs for a change.

We're going to create factory jobs for recent immigrants, and Donald Trump is going to take care of them. That's why his numbers, even right now, in this negative period, are holding pretty strong, because people want a leader that's going to make this country great again and have a strong economy.