Sessions, Jeff (Jefferson Beauregard
Sessions 3d), 1946–, U.S. politician, b. Selma, Ala., grad.
Huntingdon College, 1969, Univ. of Alabama law school, 1973. After spending
time in private practice, he became assistant U.S. attorney (1975–77)
and then U.S. attorney (1981–93) for the Southern District of
Alabama. In 1986 he was nominated for a federal judgeship but failed to win
confirmation as a result of concerns about racially insensitive remarks he
reportedly made. Elected attorney general of Alabama in 1994, he won the
first of his four terms in the U.S. Senate in 1996. A conservative
Republican noted for his support of limitations on immigration, he was
selected in 2016 by President-elect Trump to be U.S. attorney general.
Although Sessions in large part successfully pursued the president's
policies, he had a complicated relationship with Trump, who often vehemently
and publicly criticized Sessions' and the department's handling of various
investigations into possible wrongdoing involving the president and his
associates, and Trump requested his resignation in Nov., 2018. In 2020 he
was unsuccessful in his bid to reclaim his Senate seat.
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