Washington - Arab Today
US President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general was narrowly approved by the Senate on Thursday after a bitter debate over his record regarding civil rights for African Americans.
Senator Jeff Sessions becomes America's 84th attorney general, the nation's top law enforcement official, by a vote was 53-47.
A strong conservative voice in the Senate, Sessions is expected to enforce Trump's strong views on immigration, drugs and policing.
Sessions critics in the Senate said he has a history of racial insensitivity, which cost him confirmation as a federal judge in the 1980s when he was the attorney general of the state of Alabama.
The Republicans stopped a speech against Sessions by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday when she read a letter critical of Sessions written by the widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The speech was halted after Republicans cited a Senate rule prohibiting Senators from impugning the reputation of other Senators on the Senate floor.
Source: QNA