During the June 5 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, while interviewing Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), co-host Bill Hemmer sugarcoated the reasons for the Senate's rejection of Sessions' 1986 nomination to be a U.S. district court judge. Hemmer said, “Twenty-three years ago, you were nominated by President Reagan to be a federal judge. That was rejected. It had some views or some criticism about some of your views regarding the NAACP.” In fact, in addition to describing the NAACP and American Civil Liberties Union as “un-American,” according to reporting at the time and subsequent reports, the Senate heard testimony that Sessions made numerous other racially insensitive comments. Further, the Senate also reportedly heard testimony about accusations that his 1985 pursuit of voter fraud charges against three African-American civil rights activists during his tenure as United States attorney were racially motivated, as Media Matters for America documented.

The New York Times reported in a June 6, 1986, article (accessed via Nexis) headlined, “Senate Panel Hands Reagan First Defeat on Nominee for Judgeship,” that "[t]he nomination was opposed because of a number of racially insensitive statements Mr. Sessions was accused of making while serving as United States Attorney in Mobile, Ala. The nominee denied making racial statements, but both Democratic and Republican senators had expressed concern over his attitude toward members of minority groups and his prosecution last year of three blacks who were eventually acquitted on charges of voting fraud."

In a December 2002 New Republic article, then-assistant editor Sarah Wildman reported that a black former assistant U.S. attorney testified to the Senate that Sessions was “heard by several colleagues commenting that he 'used to think they [the Klan] were OK' until he found out some of them were 'pot smokers,' ” among other remarks. Wildman reported that Sessions said the comment about the Ku Klux Klan “was clearly said in jest.” From her article:

Senate Democrats tracked down a career Justice Department employee named J. Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) “un-American” and “Communist-inspired.” Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups “forced civil rights down the throats of people.” In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groups could be construed as “un-American” when “they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions” in foreign policy. Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to “pop off” on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a “disgrace to his race” for litigating voting rights cases. Sessions acknowledged making many of the statements attributed to him but claimed that most of the time he had been joking, saying he was sometimes “loose with [his] tongue.” He further admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a “piece of intrusive legislation,” a phrase he stood behind even in his confirmation hearings.

It got worse. Another damaging witness -- a black former assistant U.S. Attorney in Alabama named Thomas Figures -- testified that, during a 1981 murder investigation involving the Ku Klux Klan, Sessions was heard by several colleagues commenting that he “used to think they [the Klan] were OK” until he found out some of them were “pot smokers.” Sessions claimed the comment was clearly said in jest. Figures didn't see it that way. Sessions, he said, had called him “boy” and, after overhearing him chastise a secretary, warned him to “be careful what you say to white folks.” Figures echoed Hebert's claims, saying he too had heard Sessions call various civil rights organizations, including the National Council of Churches and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, “un-American.” Sessions denied the accusations but again admitted to frequently joking in an off-color sort of way. In his defense, he said he was not a racist, pointing out that his children went to integrated schools and that he had shared a hotel room with a black attorney several times.

Talking Points Memo's Brian Beutler and Eric Kleefeld reported in a May 7 post that they obtained transcript of the Sessions confirmation hearing and further wrote of Figures' testimony:

Figures recalled one occasion in which the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sent them instructions to investigate a case that Sessions had tried to close: “We had a very spirited discussion regarding how the Hodge case should then be handled; in the course of that argument, Mr. Sessions threw the file on a table, and remarked, 'I wish I could decline on all of them.' ”

All of them, according to Figures, meant civil rights cases generally. As he explained at one point: "[T]he statement, the manner in which it was delivered, the impression on his face, the manner in which his face blushed, I believe it represented a hostility to investigating and pursuing those types of matters."

Figures said that Sessions had called him “boy” on a number of occasions, and had cautioned him to be careful what he said to “white folks.” Mr. Sessions admonished me to 'be careful what you say to white folks,' " Figures testified. “Had Mr. Sessions merely urged me to be careful what I said to 'folks,' that admonition would have been quite reasonable. But that was not the language that he used.”

From the June 5 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:

HEMMER: I need a quick answer on the next one here -- I'm running out of time -- but many may not be aware of this, and your position is very unique. Twenty-three years ago, you were nominated by President Reagan to be a federal judge. That was rejected. It had some views or some criticism about some of your views regarding the NAACP.

How has that experience from two decades ago shaped your experience for this hearing coming up this summer?

SESSIONS: Well, it made me feel -- first, that I felt it was -- I was unfairly treated and didn't get the chance to really fully answer questions, and the American people didn't get to hear my side of it. This nominee needs to be treated fairly. She needs to be able to answer any criticism that they have, and we're going to give her that. I hope people will say this is the best nomination process we've had. That would be my goal, and I look forward to working with Senator [Pat] Leahy [D-VT], and maybe we can achieve that.

HEMMER: OK. Jeff Sessions, thank you.