Jeff Sessions Quotes

We don't pay judges to think; we pay judges to rule on the law.

The civil libertarians among us would rather defend the constitution than protect our nation's security.

Good people don't smoke marijuana.

You're not supposed to be admitted to America if you're likely to be a charge on the public - if you're going to need government aid to take care of yourself ... It [2006 immigration bill] failed because it did not do what it said it would do... End the illegality first. Then we can wrestle with how to treat compassionately people who have been in America for a long time.

Marriage has been defined by every legislature that has ever sat in the United States from every State, now 50 States, the same way, but now we have unelected judges altering and changing that fundamental institution.

People of my generation knew we needed to move beyond that, the racial division and segregation and unsustainable social relations, that were unfair to millions of people. But it didn't mean that we were going to become a big government liberal.

I just don't think there's that many people who think it's wrong to have control on our borders. That's not racism. It's not racism to question some of the political correctness today that's going on, to recognize that things are going as well as - for American workers, as they'd like, because people, their frustration is arising from a deep sense of unease that Washington is fiddling while their house is burning.

We represent our constituents. And so they don't get to dictate policy.

I noticed one thing. According to the ABA statistics, only 3.5 percent of lawyers in America in 2000 were Hispanic, yet they - Hispanics make up 5 percent of the federal district court judges and 6 percent of circuit court judges.

I went to law school at Alabama and I grew up a loyal Auburn fan. I'm one of the few that wrestles with those issues sometimes, but we're really proud of them. Like the University of Alabama has almost doubled its enrollment.

There was a resistance movement in the white community, and there was a determined civil rights movement by our neighbors and friends in the African-American community. They had right on their side. They conducted themselves in high standards, with courage and determination, and they were victorious. They overcame.

Donald Trump is saying we're going to end the lawlessness at the border and we're going to push Mexico to do better. So there's been a reaction by the activist community to attack him.

Kissinger-type foreign policy is clearly, in my view, the proper tilt for us in the future, and he [Donald Trump] gets it. And some of our members, I guess, have been so deeply committed to the [George W.] Bush agenda, the neo-conservative agenda, that it's harder for them to acknowledge that. But I acknowledge it.

We need to be protecting American citizens who are here, out of work, and hurting today-minorities, Blacks and Whites and all colors and races that are hurting today with high unemployment, but we seem to be more focused on how we can ram through this Senate a bill that would legalize millions and create an even more robust guest worker program. There are not enough jobs now. Give me a break.

Some of my best friends are FBI agents.

I am totally committed to maintaining the freedom and equality America has to provide to every citizen.

I deeply understand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it.

We need more American energy. It keeps wealth at home. It keeps our wealth from ending up in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. It creates jobs at home.

Donald Trump can improve and get better as he goes along, and I think he will.

Encouraging self-sufficiency must be a bedrock for our immigration policy, with the goal of reducing poverty, strengthening the family, and promoting our economic values. But Administration officials and their policies are working actively against this goal.

I believe that President [George W.] Bush was correct. I thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and I supported him steadfastly, and once we committed we should see it through.

I certainly believe that improving our intelligence is of important national interest.

I am not the Jeff Sessions my detractors have tried to create. I am not a racist. I am not insensitive to blacks.

[My father ] came home from World War II and he voted for [Dwight] Eisenhower. He was pretty thoughtful about those things, but never, as I said, ever campaigned for anybody. He let me put a [Barry] Goldwater sticker on his pickup truck, but he never put a bumper sticker on his car. We never had a yard sign or anything in our yards, never contributed to anybody's campaign.

We know that a ready amnesty tends to be an invitation to more illegal entries.

I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the [Donald] Trump campaign.

Ending the lawlessness at the border? I don't believe a fourth-generation Hispanic thinks that's evil. I don't think an African American thinks there's anything wrong with protecting their jobs for a change.

People are not doing well financially. I mean, wages are down from 2000. They're down from 2007. 2000 - down. Not going - they're below what they were in 2000. People are hurting. Things aren't going well for them.

I just want you to know that as a southerner, who actually saw discrimination and have no doubt it existed in a systematic and powerful and negative way to the people - great millions of people in the South, particularly, of America - I know that was wrong. I know we need to do better.

When I present evidence, I expect the judge to hear and see all the evidence that gets presented.

Because a person chooses to leave their home country and come to the United States does not necessarily mean they have the right to demand that their father or their other extended family members be allowed to come if they don't otherwise meet the standard.

We need to give them [the Justice Department] as much power as we can without eroding fundamental liberties.

[Donald] Trump is going to appeal better to African Americans, Hispanics, and others than previous Republican candidates because he's talking about what they want: a fair chance to have a better life economically.

All soldiers who serve their country and put their lives at risk need to know that if something happens to them, their families will be well taken care of. That's the bond we have with our military men and women and their families.

At least 99.92% of illegal immigrants and visa overstays without known crimes on their records did not face removal.

You've got the principled people who maybe are on salaried jobs, or CEOs, entrepreneurs, and all of those that are great people, but if you're not appealing - the permanent coalition is to join that with traditional Americans who feel like, that things aren't going well for them, and to develop policies that improve their lifestyle, not just upper-income lifestyles. And once that's believed by working people, that it's serious and a commitment and you care about people like me, for a change, Republicans could create a new majority.

I understand Donald Trump's goals. That's why I supported him for president. I share his beliefs that we've got to do more about crime, more about illegal immigration, more about gangs and violence and it's an honor and a pleasure to be able to lead that effort.

I think that may have been the biggest rally Donald Trump had, and he had the cap that said "Make American Great Again." So I thought that was - I liked that. We do need to make American great again, and I put his hat on for a little bit.

I am not stonewalling. I am following the historic policies of the Department of Justice.

Bin Laden, who was in his country, attacked and damaged our Pentagon, and killed our soldiers right out here at the Pentagon. But his pentagon no longer exists. It is rubble.

Amnesty will not help balance our budget ... In fact, a large-scale amnesty is likely to add trillions of dollars to the debt over time, accelerate Medicare's and Social Security's slide into insolvency and put enormous strain on our public-assistance programs.

I think Donald Trump's history has shown that this was a very problematic thing. There were so many ways Iraq could have gone awry once we started, and I don't think most of us spend enough time considering the dangers.

I think the people who go to work every day don't feel like Washington cares a whit about them,and, actually, they're executing policies that are bad for them.

People tell me, "Well, you understand where the voters are, Jeff, where the votes are, or what people are thinking," and they'll sort of - in a complimentary way. And it's a bit of an acknowledgement that we've been blind to some of these issues for too long.

How can we vote for a bill [S.744] that our own CBO says will reduce average wages in America for 12 years, increase unemployment for 7 years, and reduce per capita GNP growth over 25 years? A bill that will admit 30 million people to permanent legal status in the next 10 years? That will dramatically increase the annual immigration flow, and will double the guest worker flow?

Those policies - more taxes, more regulation, more debt, more spending, more government - will make American worse. It just will, in my view.

I've said many times - I told William Buckley, I said, "You warped my mind and I never recovered from it." That was a principled, lawful understanding of the role of government, the Constitution. It was not based on racism, on demagoguery, but on strong principles that - which, consistent with the American heritage and our strength for the future.

I am concerned about a president [Bill Clinton] under oath, being alleged to have committed perjury. I hope that he can rebut that and prove that did not happen.

You cannot be president of the United States if people below $50,000 don't think you care about them and you have no real communication that motivates them to vote for you.

I think that the real future of the American party is to bring in working Americans.