WASHINGTON — Republicans have chosen Jeff Sessions to be their leader on the Senate Judiciary Committee, making the conservative Alabaman the public face of the GOP during coming battles over immigration and the next Supreme Court nominee.
A formal vote installing Sessions to replace Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania -- who announced last week that he was switching to the Democratic Party -- as ranking Republican on the committee could come as early as today.
Sessions, 62, couldn't be more different from Specter, as far as Republicans go. The latter is a moderate from Philadelphia who favors abortion rights and gun control. Sessions hails from the Bible Belt and has worked as a Sunday school teacher. He's known for his hard-line stance on immigration, having virulently opposed the massive reform bill that failed to pass the Senate two years ago.
Sessions' elevation is likely to lead to a more contentious nomination battle over who will replace Justice David H. Souter on the Supreme Court than might have occurred under Specter or other Republicans on the committee. And Democrats say it reinforces the GOP's conservative identity in the public's mind at a time when the party itself openly talks of a need to broaden its national appeal.
"Nothing says old-school Republican better than Jeff Sessions," said Phil Singer, a former campaign spokesman for Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Promoting Sessions is a tangible sign that the GOP has settled its internal debate on whether to forge a broader party or a purer one. They've clearly decided to go down the purity road."
And on Monday, conservatives like former Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi had plenty of praise for Sessions.
"Jeff does his homework. He's got a good staff. He will really dig into the records, the qualifications of the nominee," Lott said. "I am sure he will ask very pointed questions."
For Sessions, a former U.S. attorney from Alabama, the role of point man for the Republicans on a high-profile court nomination holds some irony. In 1986, his own bid for a federal judgeship came before the judiciary committee -- and died there. Several Republicans, including Specter, voted against him over concerns of racial insensitivity.
Since winning a Senate seat a decade later, Sessions has used his position on the judiciary committee to be a strong advocate for conservative judicial nominees.
"I'd call it poetic justice," Lott said.
