It is no accident that Senate Republicans chose Jeff Sessions of Alabama as ranking member on the Judiciary Committee in advance of hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Sessions was chosen to lead the prosecution of Sotomayor on the charge that she is a racist — a non-starter for regular Americans but may help with fundraising among the GOP’s neo-Confederate base — because of Session’s own record of racism, which led to his losing a nomination before the same committee in 1986.

Sessions was serving as chief prosecutor for the Southern District of Alabama and making a name for himself through his prosecution of drug dealers when President Reagan nominated him to be a federal judge. But according to sworn statements by Justice Department lawyers, Sessions called the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union “communist-inspired” and said they tried to “force civil rights down the throats of people.” Sessions reportedly said of the Ku Klux Klan that he “used to think they’re okay” until he learned that some Klan members were “pot smokers.” Sessions said his words were in jest or had been misrepresented.

Because of these comments, the Judiciary Committee voted 9-9 against sending his nomination to the full Senate for a vote. It was only the second time in 48 years that a judge nominee had been voted out.

How right-wing is Sen. Sessions? In October 2005, he was one of nine senators to vote against an amendment to outlaw torture.