We are one step closer to having an Attorney General that respects America and the rule of law. This is the first time we will have been able to say that in eight years.

A Senate committee voted to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to be attorney general on Wednesday, two days after the growing controversy surrounding President Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim nations led to the firing of an acting attorney general for insubordination.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sessions 11-9 along party lines. His nomination now goes to the floor, where he is widely expected to be confirmed given the GOP’s 52-seat majority.

I suspect the Democrats on this committee didn’t boycott the vote because they know they will have to work with the majority on the upcoming Gorsuch nomination and if they act out now they will lose whatever ability they have to shape that hearing and the public debate.