Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions says banning police chokeholds is “the right step.”
Sessions made his comments during an interview with AL.com posted Friday. He is set to square off against Tommy Tuberville on July 14 for the Republican nomination for a Senate seat from Alabama.
He said a ban on chokeholds should be handled through studies promoted on the federal level.
“Maybe do some research that no one police department can do and put some model guidelines (in place) and if cities and counties are not responding, maybe you can continue to decide what the federal government can do,” Sessions said.
“But right now, I bet you a lot of departments will follow that guidance if they haven’t already. A lot of departments have those rules. This will mean more.”
An ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Friday shows that 63% of Americans support a ban on police officers using chokeholds.
Sessions stopped short of backing any rollback to immunity granted to police officers, however.
“I think we should be very cautious about that,” he said. “I think it could (lead to a) very detrimental impact financially and it could be disruptive and every altercation could turn into a lawsuit.
“My firm belief is that we do not need to get panicked into that. I don’t think that is the cause of the problem. Ultimately, you make a lot of lawyers rich. But I don’t think it would alter the realities much on the relationships on the street.”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.