Jeff Sessions confirmed as Attorney General despite strong opposition

Friday, February 10, 2017
Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. smiles as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017.
Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. smiles as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has confirmed Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions to be attorney general in the Trump administration.

The 52-47 vote 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.

Stay with ABC7 News for more on this developing story.