Sessions (Attorney General):
- Jeff Sessions is a senator from the state of Alabama and a former Attorney General of Alabama. He has a vivid racist past and as such was denied an appointment to federal judgeship during the Reagan Administration. Jeff Sessions is documented as being anti-Civil Rights and Voting Rights, but the Attorney General controls the Department of Justice which oversees those issues. While Jeff Sessions does have the legal experience for this position, he is by no stretch of the imagination a legal prodigy and his racist views call into question his ability to administer his department and fulfill his duties
- Jeff Sessions is probably the nominee thus far that is least likely to be nominated (other than perhaps Rex Tillerson) due to his clearly racist past. It was enough to keep him from becoming a federal judge in the 1980s so it is likely to be enough to keep him from becoming Attorney General in 2016/17
- Jeff Sessions would bring a variety of new policy to the Department of Justice as opposed to the current AG, Loretta Lynch. Lynch is a progressive who believes in Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and Voting Rights, whereas Sessions does not believe in any of those things. Jeff Sessions as AG of the United States would cause immense harm to progress made in judicial branch of government, as well as fail to protect American citizens from government overreach in the realms of cybersecurity and first / fourth amendment protections
- We believe that Jeff Sessions is unqualified to be Attorney General of the United States because he is a documented racist and does not believe in the things that the Department of Justice stands for
- “‘[Trump] is building an administration that looks a lot like himself.’” (NYT)
DeVos (Education):
- Betsy DeVos is a lobbyist and advocate for charter schools from the state of Michigan. She has a detailed history of funneling millions of dollars into pro-charter school causes, and is documented in saying that she does not believe in child labor laws, saying that mining would be “exciting life” for young children. Under her influence, the state of Michigan declared that the right to literacy is not guaranteed as a way to justify the underfunding of Detroit public schools
- Betsy DeVos does not have any clear ties to Russia or a vivid racist past (although her anti-public education activism has disproportionately affected minority students), and we have a majority conservative congress so her appointment is very likely
- Betsy DeVos will take the Department of Education in a drastically different direction than Arne Duncan and John King Jr because those people believed in public education and DeVos does not. She will hurt the progress made in that department by destroying public education as we know it and promote charter schools with more zeal than previous secretaries have.
- We believe that Betsy DeVos is unqualified to be Secretary of Education because she has never been an educational administrator or teacher and believes in privatizing education, which runs counter to the mission of the department
- “Ms.DeVos… married into the Amway fortune” (NYT)
Carson (Housing and Urban Development):
- Ben Carson is a retired Neurosurgeon and a former candidate for President of the United States.
- Ben Carson is identified as a Republican, and when Trump won the presidential race, Carson joined Trump’s transition team as the Vice Chairman. He was offered a position in administration, but declined saying,”The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.”
- Ben Carson does not have a likelihood for success in this department because he has no prior experience in housing.
- A new policy that Carson could put into place would be something that benefitted the poor people of the US.
- Unfortunately, Carson is likely to do more harm than good because of his minimal experience in housing. He would be a more fitting candidate for the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
- “Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon” (NYT)
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