Jeff Sessions sworn in as US Attorney General

World Today

Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions,Mary SessionsPresident Donald Trump shakes hands with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, accompanied by his wife Mary, after he was sworn-in by Vice President Mike Pence, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions has been sworn in as President Donald Trump’s attorney general.

During an Oval Office ceremony, Trump called Sessions a man of integrity and principal, and someone who has devoted his life to the cause of justice.

Sessions was sworn in the morning after the Senate confirmed his nomination following a contentious confirmation process. The Alabama lawmaker resigned his Senate seat shortly after his colleagues approved him on a 52-47 vote that broke largely along partisan lines.

The 52-47 vote confirming Sessions broke largely along party lines and capped weeks of divisive battles over Sessions, an early supporter of Donald Trump and one of the Senate’s most conservative Republicans.

Democrats laced into Sessions over his ties to Trump and his record on civil rights and immigration. Republicans lauded his four decades in public service and his commitment to fairness and the rule of law.

The nomination drew wide attention after an imbroglio in which Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren earned a rare rebuke for quoting Coretta Scott King, widow of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., criticizing Sessions in 1986.

Sessions was the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse Trump. He faced criticism from Democrats over his record on civil rights and immigration.

Republicans lauded his four decades of public service and his commitment to fairness and the rule of law.

Story by The Associated Press.