SHOWDOWN

Rep. Lewis to Join Sessions AG Confirmation Panel

Jeff Sessions has been accused of racism for decades.

Sen. Jeff Sessions’s confirmation hearing for the post of U.S. attorney general will pit him against civil-rights advocates Rep. John Lewis (D-AL), Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Sessions has Donald Trump’s backing for the Cabinet post, and the support of Republican colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee where Sessions will have his confirmation hearing. But that same committee previously rejected Sessions for a federal judgeship in 1986, when his behavior was deemed too racist for the post. Sessions’s alleged bigotry is expected to be front and center when his confirmation hearing begins Tuesday.