On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions denounced the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for weaponizing its “hate group” designations against conservative organizations, and pledged that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not partner with hate groups or groups that defame Americans. He spoke in front of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian legal organization that has won 9 Supreme Court cases in the last seven years and that has been unfairly defamed as a “hate group” by the SPLC.
“I have ordered a review at the Department of Justice to make sure that we do not partner with any groups that discriminate,” the attorney general declared. “We will not partner with groups that unfairly defame Americans for standing up for the Constitution or their faith.”
He made this promise shortly after explaining the history of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “People of faith are facing a new hostility. Really, a bigoted ideology which is founded on animus towards people of faith,” Sessions declared. “You’ll notice that they don’t rely on the facts. They don’t make better arguments. They don’t propose higher ideals. No, they just call people names—like ‘hate group.'”
“Does that sound familiar?” Sessions quipped.
“You know I’m from Alabama—the home of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that did important work in the South, vital work at a pivotal time,” the attorney general explained.
He admitted that “there were hate groups in the South I grew up in. They attacked the life, liberty, and the very worth of minority citizens.”– READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday unloaded on a federal judge who ordered the administration to reinstate the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy last week, saying the ruling was “improper” and vowing to keep up enforcement efforts against illegal immigration “aggressively.”
Sessions added that the judge had effectively “eviscerated” the legal authority of the executive branch and Congress, and strongly suggested the administration would appeal the ruling.
The Trump administration announced last year it would end DACA, which was implemented by the Obama administration using executive authority and protects illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation. However, the Republican-controlled Congress has failed to agree to a permanent statutory replacement for the program, despite several legislative attempts.
Federal judges have since barred the administration from ending the program entirely, saying it would be acceptable only to shut down future enrollment in DACA because existing applicants had already relied on it. But the ruling by U.S. District Judge John Bates went a step further by ordering authorities to essentially reinstate DACA in full.
In a statement, Sessions decried Bates’ ruling as one of a “number of decisions in which courts have improperly used judicial power to steer, enjoin, modify, and direct executive policy.” – READ MORE
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