Michael C. Bender and Damian Paletta report for the WSJ:

On criminal-justice issues, Mr. Sessions has been a law-and-order conservative. In recent years he has criticized President Barack Obama for commuting hundreds of prison sentences for drug offenders, as well as efforts by the Justice Department and U.S. Sentencing Commission to reduce criminal sentencing guidelines for certain drug offenses.

A graduate of the University of Alabama law school, Mr. Sessions was appointed by President Reagan in 1981 to serve as the U.S. attorney in Mobile, a post he filled for 12 years. Mr. Sessions ran for state attorney general in 1994 and won, serving for two years before his successful bid for the Senate.

His nomination for attorney general is likely to draw fire from civil-rights groups. The Senate's 1986 rejection of him to be a federal judge included criticism over his prosecution of three civil-rights workers for voter fraud, charges for which they were eventually acquitted.

As Bill Otis noted on this blog, Senator Sessions was instrumental in stopping a misguided sentencing "reform" bill.

I expect that this is good news in the judicial nominations area as well.  President Trump is likely to give considerable weight to the views of AG Sessions on the picks.  The Republican tent includes both "conservative" types -- who believe in law, order, judicial restraint, and original understanding jurisprudence -- and others of a more libertarian stripe.  The libertarian leaning types have a spectrum of their own, ranging from reasonable people who agree about original understanding to complete moonbats who are indistinguishable from the ACLU on criminal law issues.  I doubt AG Sessions will approve of nomination of the latter type to seats on the federal bench.