As Sen. Jeff Sessions’s confirmation hearings for Attorney General draw closer, critics worry that his nomination could slow the momentum of police reform measures, disrupt a growing bipartisan effort to roll back the war on drugs, and further polarize a divided America.
Sessions’s nomination has drawn some comparisons to the similarly controversial appointment of Edwin Meese as attorney general under Ronald Reagan. But Sessions may take a less overt approach to reform than Mr. Meese, who aggressively pushed a clear policy agenda during his time as attorney general, says Cornell William Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University.
“My guess is what you’ll see is him simply use the softer power of the executive branch, prosecutorial discretion, to send important signals to local law enforcement agencies and state and local governments,” Dr. Clayton tells the Monitor in a phone interview. “That’s where you’re most likely to see the shift in federal law enforcement policy. There’s not going to be a sweeping reform bill. What you’ll see is an under the radar shift in enforcement policy and funding priorities.”
“That’s very real and very important, but it’s not high-profile like a crime reform bill would be,” he adds. “So it doesn’t provide the same lever for counter-mobilization.”