Jeff Session’s appointment raises specter of prosecuting voting rights activists

In light of attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions' history of prosecuting voting rights activists, authors Michele Jawando and Billy Corriher call on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to question Sessions about his civil rights record.

Albert Turner was a leader in the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” march for voting rights in Selma, Ala., walking with Rep. John Lewis and others. The televised scenes of marchers being beaten by police helped push the public to support the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year.

A leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Turner also carried the casket of Rev. Martin Luther King after his assassination.

Nearly two decades later in 1985, Turner found himself in a federal courtroom, facing charges of voter fraud.

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