--- title: Khizr Khan Asks Senate Committee to Oppose Jeff Sessions description: Gold Star father Khizr Khan has written a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee asking them to oppose Jeff Sessions' nomination. canonical: https://time.com/4629246/khizr-khan-senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-sessions/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-09T19:55:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:45.758Z article:section: Politics og:title: Khizr Khan Asks Senators to Oppose Jeff Sessions og:description: "I urge you to think beyond partisan politics." og:url: https://time.com/4629246/khizr-khan-senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-sessions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d9bb8a21866e390/6988b4d52dce014a909ebdcb/khizr_khan_sessions.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Khizr Khan, the father of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan speaks at a rally Hillary Clinton at The Armory at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 6, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Khizr Khan Asks Senators to Oppose Jeff Sessions twitter:description: "I urge you to think beyond partisan politics." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d9bb8a21866e390/6988b4d52dce014a909ebdcb/khizr_khan_sessions.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Khizr Khan Asks Senate Judiciary Committee to Oppose Jeff Sessions ## Video: Senate Committee Holds Hearings on Donald Trump’s Attorney General Pick Jeff Sessions [Watch (HLS stream): Senate Committee Holds Hearings on Donald Trump’s Attorney General Pick Jeff Sessions](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/h5xKVVeq.m3u8) (2:33)  _Published 2017-01-10. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions stressed his reputation in the Senate when he testified before a key committee Tuesday that could decide whether he becomes Donald Trump’s attorney general_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 9, 2017 7:55 PM UTC  Khizr Khan, the father of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan speaks at a rally Hillary Clinton at The Armory at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 6, 2016. Khizr Khan, the father of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan speaks at a rally Hillary Clinton at The Armory at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 6, 2016.Andrew Harnik—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 9, 2017 7:55 PM UTC After publicly feuding with Donald Trump last summer, [Gold Star](http://time.com/4433169/khizr-khan-gold-star-families-history/?iid=sr-link2) father [Khizr Khan](http://time.com/4429891/dnc-khizr-khan-donald-trump-constitution/) is back with a plea to Congress: block Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions’ nomination for attorney general. “As a grateful patriot citizen I must voice my concerns, timely and loudly, on behalf of our beloved nation that the Civil Rights progress we have made thus far is threatened by this nominee for the office of the chief law enforcement officer of our nation,” Khan wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, released Monday by People for the American Way. Khan became nationally known after [an emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention](http://time.com/4433169/khizr-khan-gold-star-families-history/) in July about the death of his son and Trump’s comments on Muslims. In his letter, Khan lists four reasons he opposes Sessions: voting rights, equal protection for religious and ethnic minorities, religious freedom and freedom of speech. On voting rights, Khan invokes a voter fraud case Sessions prosecuted against civil rights activists as U.S. attorney in Alabama in the 1980s, which led in part to the same committee he’ll face this week rejecting his nomination to be a federal judge in 1986. “It is hard to understand, much less accept, his actions,” Khan writes. Khan also referenced Sessions’ defense of Donald Trump’s [proposed Muslim immigration ban](http://time.com/4139476/donald-trump-shutdown-muslim-immigration/?iid=sr-link10) and comments the senator allegedly made against the NAACP and the ACLU. “I urge you to think beyond partisan politics as you consider this nomination. Thirty years ago, a bipartisan group of senators rejected Mr. Sessions’ nomination to be a federal judge,” Khan concludes, once again noting Sessions’ failure in 1986\. “His record since then does not give us any reason to believe that those senators were in error.” Sessions confirmation hearings begin Tuesday. **Read More:** [_Jeff Sessions Hopes to Escape His History of Racial Controversy at Confirmation Hearing_](http://time.com/4623936/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-hearings-senate/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4629246/khizr-khan-senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-sessions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4629246/khizr-khan-senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-sessions/"},"headline":"Khizr Khan Asks Senate Judiciary Committee to Oppose Jeff Sessions","datePublished":"2017-01-09T19:55:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:45.758Z","description":"'I urge you to think beyond partisan politics'","url":"https://time.com/4629246/khizr-khan-senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-sessions/","keywords":["Congress","Justice Department","Department of Justice","Donald Trump","Jeff Sessions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d9bb8a21866e390/6988b4d52dce014a909ebdcb/khizr_khan_sessions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d9bb8a21866e390/6988b4d52dce014a909ebdcb/khizr_khan_sessions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Khizr Khan, the father of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan speaks at a rally Hillary Clinton at The Armory at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 6, 2016.","caption":"Khizr Khan, the father of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan speaks at a rally Hillary Clinton at The Armory at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 6, 2016.","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4629246/khizr-khan-senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-sessions/","name":"Khizr Khan Asks Senate Judiciary Committee to Oppose Jeff Sessions"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Senate Committee Holds Hearings on Donald Trump’s Attorney General Pick Jeff Sessions","description":"Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions stressed his reputation in the Senate when he testified before a key committee Tuesday that could decide whether he becomes Donald Trump’s attorney general","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/h5xKVVeq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-01-10T19:42:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/h5xKVVeq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4629246/khizr-khan-senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-sessions/","duration":"PT2M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4629246/khizr-khan-senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-sessions/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```