Leave It to Donald Trump to Come Up With the Wrong Way to Fire and Replace Jeff Sessions
UPDATE: Before leaving for their August recess, members of Congress heard your concerns and made sure that President Trump cannot make a recess appointment to fire and replace Jeff Sessions without the Senate being able to hold hearings and votes on any new attorney general. Congress will meet briefly every three days during August so that there will not be a break long enough for the president to appoint without Senate approval.
He hasn’t even been in office for six months yet, and Jeff Sessions is already well on his way to earning the title of worst attorney general for civil liberties and civil rights in modern history. We’re using every tool in our toolbox to not only alert everyone to his near daily wrongdoings, but also to fight Jeff Sessions every step of the way as he tries to undo fundamental rights that protect each one of us.
There are certainly a lot of reasons to be outraged with Sessions’ work as attorney general. But President Trump is not upset that Sessions is attacking the rights of immigrants, the LGBT community, or victims of occupation-style policing. Instead, the president is furious that Sessions recused himself from any role in the Russia investigation and won’t corruptly interfere with a criminal investigation.
Think about that. It’s only when Sessions is acting ethically that Trump wants to place his head squarely on the chopping block.
The president clearly wants an attorney general who will shut down, or pare back, the criminal investigation of Russian interference in the American presidential election and the alleged collusion by his campaign and associates. The criminal investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has prompted the president and his closest advisors, including family members, to lawyer up as new details of involvement with Russians continue to hit the front page.
The Trump White House is now hatching what may be the only wrong way to fire and replace Sessions. Within the next few days, Congress is going to give itself August off. If the Senate is in recess for more than 10 days, President Trump can fire Sessions and — on his own — appoint a new attorney general who can serve until January 2019, without ever getting approved by the Senate. The president reportedly is considering a “recess appointment” as a way to fire Sessions and replace him with the kind of attorney general who will be willing to do some dirty work for the president and his buddies.
It is now up to the Senate to stop this latest Trump plan dead in its tracks. Senators must oppose going into any recess that lasts longer than 10 days so that Trump cannot bypass the Senate in firing and replacing Sessions. The Senate can use a procedural tool, used very often in the past, to have what are known as short “pro forma” sessions every three days during August, so that the president will never get a chance to make a recess appointment of a new attorney general.
The ACLU sent a letter early this morning to every senator and member of the House of Representatives urging them to not go into a formal recess and give President Trump the opportunity to upend a criminal investigation of his own campaign. Call your senators and urge them to shut down this corrupt way of governing.
The new White House communications director said this week that an attorney general should be “a pretty good hockey goalie for the president.” But that’s not right. Sessions is not Trump’s lawyer — and must never be.
The attorney general’s duty requires independence: to uphold the rule of law, including the core principle that no one is above the law. Sessions correctly, even if belatedly and under pressure, recused himself from the investigation led by Special Counsel Mueller. He and any future attorney general must make the same commitment to the Senate and the American people that Mueller can follow the facts and enforce the law without any interference from the attorney general or the White House.
The Senate is on notice. It’s up to all of us to tell our senators to shut down this potential threat to the rule of law.
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News & CommentaryDec 2024
Civil Liberties
We Need to Know More About State Supreme Court CasesWe Need to Know More About State Supreme Court Cases
State Supreme Courts interpret laws that impact some of the most intimate parts of our lives. Communities have a right to know what’s on the docket. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
Civil Liberties
New ACLU Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency MeasuresNew ACLU Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency Measures
NEW YORK — Nearly half of all state supreme courts across the country fail to regularly post new cases they are considering, with only six meeting four key transparency measures already implemented by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a new report published today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The report identifies significant steps that state supreme courts should take to inform the public about their cases, which have only grown in importance as the federal judiciary has become more hostile to protecting core rights and advocates have turned to state protections and state court litigation in response. Based on an analysis of the practices and policies of the highest courts in each state, including D.C., the report “Scorecard for State Supreme Court Transparency: How Does Your State Stack Up?” ranks each state supreme court in five tiers based on compliance with four key transparency measures. These measures include posting new cases online in a timely manner, providing timely information about legal issues presented by cases, making dockets accessible and free for the public, and making merits briefing accessible and free for the public. “State courts regularly hear — and are the final word on — cases affecting abortion rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and more. Yet, in many instances, the highest state courts do not provide meaningful public access to information about cases affecting the rights and liberties of millions of people. We urge state supreme courts to bring more transparency to the critical work they do,” said Julie Murray, co-director of the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative. “In the face of a federal judiciary increasingly unwilling to protect core rights and an incoming administration that threatens to exacerbate that problem, state courts are an important defense for our liberty. They should be leaders in transparency, too,” said Bridget Lavender, Skadden Fellow with the Initiative. The report emphasizes that state courts “play an outsized role” in many parts of the law, but their ability to “guard our liberties depends in significant part on whether those courts adopt transparent processes.” It further highlights that state supreme courts have led the way on enormously consequential decisions in recent years. In particular, some state supreme courts have recognized the right of same sex couples to marry, and did so long before federal courts. They have also declared the death penalty unconstitutional under state law despite contrary federal law, protected access to reproductive health care as a right even as that right was being stripped away at the federal level, and provided more robust protection to people subject to unreasonable searches and seizures. The report urges state supreme courts to take action to improve their transparency practices, taking notes from the courts that have already implemented these measures. It notes that regularly posting new cases and the issues they represent, and providing timely access to dockets and merits briefing allows the public, the press, and the legal community to track cases as they unfold, identify cases with statewide consequences, and understand what’s at stake. -
Press ReleaseNov 2024
National Security
+2 Issues
ACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political EnemiesACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union strongly urges the House of Representatives to vote NO on H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would grant Donald Trump and his handpicked secretary of the Treasury power to investigate and effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization — including news outlets, universities, and civil society groups — by stripping them of tax-exempt status based on an unilateral accusation of wrongdoing. “Passing this bill would hand the incoming Trump administration a dangerous new tool it could use to stifle free speech, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups,” said Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU. “The freedom to dissent without fear of government retribution is a vital part of any well-functioning democracy, which is why Congress must block H.R. 9495 before it’s too late.” While there is a 90-day “cure” period in which a designated nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process. The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations. This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as "support," making it virtually impossible to clear its name. Last month, the ACLU and a diverse array of over 130 other tax-exempt organizations — including human rights, reproductive health, and immigrants’ rights groups — wrote to Congress urging them to vote no. The letter also explains that the groups do not oppose the provisions in H.R. 9495 that relate to preventing the IRS from imposing fines and penalties on hostages while they are held abroad. Indeed, these provisions have already passed the Senate on their own, and if the House of Representatives were to pass a version of this bill that did not include the text of H.R. 6408, it could be sent immediately to President Biden for his signature. -
News & CommentaryNov 2024
Civil Liberties
Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The ACLU is Ready.Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The ACLU is Ready.
Starting in 2016, the ACLU filed more than 400 legal actions against Trump and his administration. As Trump returns to the White House, we’re ready to return to the courts and Congress to fight for our civil liberties.