November 2016 Group Watch: News & Views from the State House
The role Alabama leaders may play on the national stage now that Donald Trump is president-elect and a suspension of the Governor Bentley impeachment hearings are the talk of the town this month.
AL Senator Jeff Sessions Joins Trump Transition Team
President-elect Donald Trump is shaking up his transition team as he plunges into the work of setting up his administration. The transition effort will be led by Vice President-elect Mike Pence and will include steadfast supporters like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. Sessions was an early supporter of Trump and a fierce defender of him and his candidacy.
Former AL AG Bill Pryor Among Contenders for Supreme Court
Among the names on a Trump list of 21 possible Supreme Court nominees is Mobile native Bill Pryor. Pryor served as Alabama’s Attorney General from 1997-2004, becoming the youngest state AG in the country. In 2005, Pryor was nominated by President George W. Bush as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, a position to which he was confirmed by the United States Senate. Pryor has steadfastly opposed legalized abortion, ruled against gay marriage and ruled for for religious organizations fighting Obamacare contraceptive mandates. He is a practicing Catholic and a graduate of Tulane Law School.
House Judiciary Committee Suspends Impeachment Hearings
The House Judiciary committee has suspended its impeachment hearings against Governor Robert Bentley after receiving a request from the State’s Attorney General’s office expressing concerns that the hearings could jeopardize the AG’s criminal investigation into a separate criminal matter. Committee Chair Mike Jones said his decision to suspend the hearings is consistent with his commitment to work cooperatively with other investigating agencies. House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said that proceeding with impeachment hearings while there is an active criminal investigation would put a number of parties in a difficult position.
