--- title: Jeff Sessions: Hawaii Attorney General Hits Back at Comments description: Hawaii’s Attorney General Doug Chin fired back at U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who called Hawaii “an island in the Pacific” canonical: https://time.com/4749822/hawaii-ag-doug-chin-responds-jeff-sessions/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-21T01:02:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:54:51.988Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hawaii Attorney General Says Jeff Sessions' Comments Are 'Disappointing' og:description: He filed suit against President Trump's executive order on immigration og:url: https://time.com/4749822/hawaii-ag-doug-chin-responds-jeff-sessions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79bea21c41d0fd7f/6988c3e20b72e3a3816ed765/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-hawaii-doug-chin-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: AG Jeff Sessions Holds A Meeting On Transnational Organized Crime og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hawaii Attorney General Says Jeff Sessions' Comments Are 'Disappointing' twitter:description: He filed suit against President Trump's executive order on immigration twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79bea21c41d0fd7f/6988c3e20b72e3a3816ed765/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-hawaii-doug-chin-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hawaii Attorney General Says Jeff Sessions' Comments Are 'Disappointing' by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Apr 21, 2017 1:02 AM UTC  Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks about organized gang violence at the Department of Justice, April 18, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks about organized gang violence at the Department of Justice, April 18, 2016 in Washington, D.C.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Apr 21, 2017 1:02 AM UTC Hawaii’s Attorney General Doug Chin on Thursday fired back at U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who [called Hawaii “an island in the Pacific”](http://time.com/4749244/jeff-sessions-hawaii-island-pacific/) earlier this week. Sessions’ comments, made on “The Mark Levin Show,” not only appeared to diminish Hawaii, but also struck at U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, who issued a nationwide ruling halting President Donald Trump’s travel ban last month. “President Trump previously called a federal judge in California a so-called judge. Now U.S. Attorney General Sessions appears to dismiss a federal judge in Hawaii as just a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific,” Chin said in a [statement](https://ag.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/News-Release-2017-42.pdf). “Our Constitution created a separation of powers in the United States for a reason. Our federal courts, established under article III of the Constitution, are co-equal partners with Congress and the President. It is disappointing AG Sessions does not acknowledge that.” Chin has his own history with the Trump administration. He is the one who [filed the lawsuit](http://time.com/4703177/donald-trump-travel-ban-immigration-hawaii-judge/?iid=sr-link1) against Trump’s travel ban in March, leading Watson to grant a temporary restraining order against it. The president has also criticized the judge’s decision and [filed an appeal](http://time.com/4719959/donald-trump-travel-ban-hawaii-judge-repeal/?iid=sr-link4). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4749822/hawaii-ag-doug-chin-responds-jeff-sessions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4749822/hawaii-ag-doug-chin-responds-jeff-sessions/"},"headline":"Hawaii Attorney General Says Jeff Sessions' Comments Are 'Disappointing'","datePublished":"2017-04-21T01:02:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:54:51.988Z","description":"He filed suit against President Trump's executive order on immigration","url":"https://time.com/4749822/hawaii-ag-doug-chin-responds-jeff-sessions/","keywords":["hawaii","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79bea21c41d0fd7f/6988c3e20b72e3a3816ed765/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-hawaii-doug-chin-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79bea21c41d0fd7f/6988c3e20b72e3a3816ed765/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-hawaii-doug-chin-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AG Jeff Sessions Holds A Meeting On Transnational Organized Crime","caption":"AG Jeff Sessions Holds A Meeting On Transnational Organized Crime","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","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/hawaii/","name":"hawaii"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4749822/hawaii-ag-doug-chin-responds-jeff-sessions/","name":"Hawaii Attorney General Says Jeff Sessions' Comments Are 'Disappointing'"}}]}] ```