Jeff Sessions Is Dismantling Obama’s Legal Legacy

In mid-May, as the Russia investigation reached new heights with the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the eventual naming of Robert Mueller as special counsel, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was going about his business as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Having recused himself from the Russia probe two months earlier, he spent those two weeks in May, among other things, issuing stricter charging policies for prosecutors and speaking at an antidrug conference in West Virginia, where he blamed Mexican cartels and porous borders for the opioid epidemic.

Under normal circumstances, the U.S. attorney general would be deeply involved in any investigation of a foreign power interfering in domestic affairs. But with the country fixated on all things Russia, Sessions’s recusal has allowed him to implement his tough-on-crime agenda and dismantle large parts of President Obama’s legal legacy without creating big headlines. Since taking over the U.S. Department of Justice on Feb. 9, Sessions has made more than a dozen changes affecting almost all facets of federal law enforcement. His priorities are clear: violent crime, drugs, and immigration. Although the proposed budget for the department includes $1 billion of cuts overall, Sessions has asked for an extra $26 million to hire 300 prosecutors devoted to gang violence and deportation cases.