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Watch Live: Jeff Sessions' Attorney General Confirmation Hearing

Alex Brandon
/
AP
Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), arrives on Capitol Hill to testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, will face the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday for his confirmation hearing. Sessions, a Republican who has served in Congress for two decades, has had his nomination protested for his record on civil rights, voting rights and criminal justice. A key controversy: In 1986, the Judiciary Committee rejected Sessions' nomination to be a federal judge.

As NPR's Carrie Johnson has reported, the lifetime-tenured judgeship was denied "after lawyers testified he had a record of making racially insensitive statements. Sessions denied he was a racist, but he acknowledged he made a joke about thinking members of the KKK were all right — until he learned they smoked marijuana."

Read more about those hearings in this piece by NPR's Nina Totenberg: Who's The Real Jeff Sessions? Two Hearings In 1986 Show A Conflicting Picture

You can view the live stream of Tuesday's hearing above; here are five things to watch for.