Sessions’ issues with the law, the Violence Against Women Act, may be an insurmountable hurdle for a trio of moderate Democratic senators – Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Jon Tester of Montana – whom pro-Sessions forces have targeted so one of Donald Trump’s most high-profile Cabinet picks can head to the Justice Department with some bipartisan cover.
The conservative Alabama senator supported previous versions of the Violence Against Women Act, the landmark 1994 law that was first drafted by now-Vice President Joe Biden when he was in the Senate. But he voted against VAWA when it was reauthorized in 2013, when new provisions were included that made it easier to prosecute domestic violence against Native American women.
“I’m really concerned about the position he took,” Heitkamp, whose home state Trump won by 36 points, said in an interview. “The reason he gave was not very knowledgeable about what happens in Indian country and the Indian jurisdiction.”
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