It's not so much the attorney general's job to decide what laws to enforce. We should do our jobs and enforce laws effectively as we're able.
— Jeff Sessions
This country does not punish its political enemies. What this country ensures is that no one is above the law.
All of us who work in law enforcement want to keep people safe. That is the heart of our jobs; it is what drives us every day.
At a time when this country needs a good military, the last thing we need to be doing is turning out of our military of people who served and then bringing in people who are illegally in the country.
You know the discrimination: African-Americans couldn't go to certain schools, they couldn't use certain restrooms, there were other kinds of routine biases against them.
Drug trafficking is an inherently dangerous and violent business.
I do think it's a real problem when we have 'Black Lives Matter' making statements that are really radical, that are absolutely false.
I cannot and will not violate my duty to protect confidential communications with the president.
I think people are free to marry any way they want to. But churches are free to set standards for marriage.
It is clear that IDEA '97 not only undermines the educational process, it also undermines the authority of educators.
I recall saying that civil rights organizations, when they demand more than is legitimate, it hurts their position.
I am not the Jeff Sessions my detractors have tried to create. I am not a racist. I am not insensitive to blacks.
Trump has a way of driving a message so people hear it.
Donald Trump is right. We need to figure out a way to end this cycle of hostility that's putting this country at risk, costing us billions of dollars in defense, and creating hostility that should not exist.
Legal immigration is the primary source of low-wage immigration into the United States.
Hybart is a little community I grew up in, so it was just a wonderful time in those years.
The basic social contract is that citizens agree to follow the law, pay their taxes, and devote their love and loyalty to their country, and in exchange, the nation commits to preserve and protect and serve their interests, safeguard their freedom, and return to them in kind their first allegiance and loyalty.
You do not walk into any hearing or committee meeting and reveal confidential communications with the president of the United States, who's entitled to receive confidential communications in your best judgment about a host of issues.
Congress has taken an action now that makes it absolutely improper and illegal to use waterboarding... or any other form of torture by our military and by our other departments and agencies.
Failure to deport aliens who are convicted for criminal offenses puts whole communities at risk - especially immigrant communities in the very sanctuary jurisdictions that seek to protect the perpetrators.
Whereas the handling of the case against President Nixon clearly strengthened the nation's respect for law, justice and truth, the Clinton impeachment may unfortunately have the opposite result.
All of us know that when the confidence of a private conversation is breached by a party with ulterior motives or one who simply misunderstands what the speaker says or means, the speaker can always be embarrassed.
It is a core principle that prosecutors should charge and pursue the most serious readily provable offense.
It is not legitimate that an American citizen feels that they are more likely to be arrested or held to account or stopped and searched than someone else simply because of the color of their skin.
I did not have any private meetings nor do I recall any conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel.
Republicans do not believe in identity politics.
I enjoy repartee and frequently engage in devil's advocacy. In short, when I talk to friends, I do not guard every word that I say because I think that I know they know that my commitment to equality and justice is real, and they would not twist my words or misinterpret what I am saying to them.
I'm often loose with my tongue. I may have said something about the NAACP being un-American or Communist, but I meant no harm by it.
My belief is that the nation-state remains the one entity that can function, the one entity that can demand sacrifice from its constituents in the national interest.
The question is, can we have a more peaceful, effective relationship with Russia, utilizing interests that are similar in a realistic way to make this world a safer place and get off this dangerous hostility with Russia.
My previous 15 years working in the Department of Justice were extraordinarily fulfilling. I love the Department, its people and its mission. I can think of no greater honor than to lead them.
My father never ran for office or supported anybody for office, and was not engaged in that at all.
I was the youngest of about nine boys in the neighborhood, and we played ball all the time, and I looked up to them, and they let me play around with them, and we just had a good time.
Every senator needs to stand up and represent their constituents - not big business, not the ACLU, not activist groups, not political interests, but the American interests, the workers' interests.
The caricature of me in 1986 was not correct. I do not harbor the kind of animosity and race-based discrimination ideas that I was accused of. I did not.
I worry that we risk losing the hard-won gains that have made America a safer and more prosperous place.
Know when cities and states refuse to help enforce immigration laws, our nation is less safe.
In America, the Supreme Court and the American people believe no one is above the law.
I like to discuss things. I am open: I like to discuss with liberals better than I do with conservatives.
I do believe we have voter fraud in America.
I think it is likely that within every department there are some officers who subtly, if not otherwise, are biased in the way they go about enforcing the law. I think that is just life. We know that to be true.
Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.
Is our national goal to place as many people on welfare, food stamp support, as we can possibly put on that program? Is that our goal? Is that a moral vision for the United States of America, just to see how many people we can place in a situation where they're dependent on the federal government for their food?
I have never used the word 'boy' to describe a black, nor would I tolerate it in my office.
I have supported civil rights activity in my state. I have done my job with integrity, equality, and fairness for all.
You don't have a constitutional right or a moral right to demand entry into any country.
We have a lot of bad leaders around the world that operate in ways we would never tolerate in the United States.
I am humbled to have been asked by President-elect Trump to serve as Attorney General of the United States.
My great-great-great-grandfather or something, I think his father came before him; but, in the 1840s, he was a circuit-riding Baptist preacher.
The job of elected officials is to answer to the people who sent them to Washington - not to scorn them, not to demean them, not to mock them, and not to sell their jobs and dreams to the highest bidder.
