Conservatives Cheer Sessions

It’s pretty hard to find a conservative who isn’t happy about Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) replacing party-switcher Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) as the ranking Republican member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Sessions is one of the best legal minds in the Senate,” said Curt Levey, executive director of the Committee for Justice, which is collecting research on possible Souter replacements. “He totally gets the judges issue, and he gets it deeply. For example, I think all of the Republicans on the committee know that courts shouldn’t be finding a constitutional right to gay marriage. But I think Sessions understands, and can explain, why substantive due process in Dred Scott was wrong and why it was wrong in Roe v. Wade as well. Sessions can be assertive without coming off as hostile.”