WASHINGTON — An Alabama Republican wants the Senate to mandate that nominees swear “So help me God” in their confirmation hearings.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., lashed out at Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Aug. 2 for not including the words at the end of the oath taken by nominees appearing before the committee.
“Ninety-five percent of the people believe in God,” Sessions said, according to the Associated Press. “An invocation of His name, in conjunction with the seriousness of telling the truth, has an importance beyond mere legal requirement.”
Leahy said he simply reads the oath — to tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” — from a card and will include the reference to God if the committee desires it.
“I never gave it thought one way or the other,” he said.
Sessions said the committee failed to include the phrase in hearings that included Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI director-designate Robert Mueller and Asa Hutchinson, the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Sessions said he is considering the possibility of including “So help me God” in the Senate rules to make it a permanent fixture of committee hearings.
Share with others: