With the probable nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) as President-elect #Donald Trump‘s attorney general, activists are worried that the Department of Justice (DOJ) won’t enforce environmental laws. Green activists note that Sessions has consistently questioned man’s influence on global climate and has attacked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for over-regulating industries. One broadly written EPA rule, the Clean Power Plan, was vehemently opposed by Sessions for its vast regulatory overreach.
The Sessions nomination is a clear sign, activists say, that Trump is keeping his word on rolling back the EPA’s stranglehold on certain industries and pushing back on President #Obama‘s #Climate Change legacy. Some experts think President Obama could issue thousands of new regulations in the remaining months of his presidency. More recently, Obama rolled out $5 billion worth of regulations just ahead of Thanksgiving. And when Sessions is confirmed, as most policy wonks believe, he will decide which regulations to enforce and which ones to let die on the vine.
Using the DOJ as a partisan weapon
The scenario is similar to how Obama ran the Justice Department. Through his loyalists, Obama used the DOJ to pick and choose which laws they would enforce, as demonstrated by then-AG Eric Holder and current AG Loretta Lynch. From the IRS investigations of Tea Party applicants to the Clinton email scandal to unfettered disregard for current immigration laws, the DOJ has turned a blind eye when politically expedient. Sessions would likely need to replace 80 percent of the DOJ, given that much of the department is composed of acolytes brought in from Obama’s still-active Organizing for Action group.
Obama Could Impose 1,019 More Regulations Before Leaving Office https://t.co/VUOzaSdLVr pic.twitter.com/85ik8KYknw
— The Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 18, 2016
