Jeff Sessions: a politician of mythical proportions whose shadow leaves in its wake a storm cloud of outrage. But who is this man that can elicit such fear? Surprisingly, Sessions had yet to appear on the media’s radar until he was President Trump’s pick for Attorney General. What makes Sessions such a threat? A thorough and apparent record of racism or the media’s attempts to put a target on anyone associated with Trump?

The first article of evidence to support the suggestion that Sessions is a bona fide racist would be the controversial joke he had made while at a trial during his time as US attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. Coincidentally, this was the trial where Sessions was prosecuting the Clansman Bennie Jack Hays who was responsible for the lynching of the 19-year old African-American Michael Donald. Sessions exhausted all resources to get Hayes the death penalty because, as you know, white supremacists hate the KKK. But those are just minor details.

Now, the quote in question: “I thought [the KKK was]okay until they smoked marijuana”

The joke was made when the clansmen who were being tried were too high to give testimony. The interpretation that has gained popularity would be the extreme translation of this mild joke–Session’s only qualm with the KKK is their drug use, and therefore, he condones everything else. The sarcasm is hard to note when in print, but the context of the quote matters. Sessions made this joke while prosecuting a Clansmen. Or maybe do not overanalyze a frustrated joke made at a defendant’s inability to provide testimony. I thought Hitler was okay until I found out he was on amphetamines. The purpose of the joke is to contrast the horrors of Hitler’s previous actions to the minor character fault of being a druggy.

The second claim against Sessions would be that he is hostile to federal anti-discrimination and voting rights laws, and the most infamous example touted out would be his attempts to prosecute three voting-rights activist, Albert and Evelyn Turner and Spencer Hogue, for voting fraud.

The conflict began when rural white voters began to use absentee ballots for elections because a majority of workers lived in the country. In response, the Turners began to use absentee ballots on mass. After some suspicious reports of voting fraud from elderly black voters, a black candidate for the black-and-white coalition requested for the Attorney General, Sessions, requested for the case to be investigated. An FBI investigation identified 75 cases of tampered ballots, but eventually had it narrowed down to 27. However, after a strenuous trial, most of the charges were dropped, and the three in question were acquitted. The 29 counts of voting fraud were unable to hold in court because there is no evidence that the absentee ballots were filled out purposefully to benefit the Turners. Out of the 27, only a family six, claimed that their ballots were already filled out for a candidate not of their choosing.

Now is this a clear-cut example of racism? No. That definite statement is muddled by the fact that the person who brought this case against the Turners is a black man, the victims of this voter fraud were black, and that Sessions’ job was to investigate these claims.

Another claim against Sessions is that, while he did have a definite role in the desegregation of Alabama, his participation has been exaggerated by his defenders. This statement does have an element of truth:

Sessions’ conviction of Hays did not destroy the KKK in heart of Dixie; Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center and her $7 million dollar verdict against the United Klansmen of America in their relation to Michael Donald’s murder was what truly shattered the KKK.

Sessions, in addition, did not valiantly desegregate Alabama city by city; It was the Alabama Civil Rights Division, with Session executive cooperation, that Alabama strived toward social equality.

But how does any of this add substance to the argument that Sessions is a racist? If anything, the details only contradict that argument. Consider the man in question, who worked to award his Alabama native, Rosa Parks, the congressional gold medal, and think about who are truly the disingenuous ones in this situation. Examine Sessions’ career, and you will see he is a law-and-order politician who has done his job. There is plenty to disagree with regarding Jeff Sessions, but to attach the ad hominem of racist is not exactly the way to start.