U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions—who has clashed repeatedly with the civil rights community over transgender students, affirmative action, immigration, and more—has resigned his post, President Donald Trump announced on Twitter last week.
Matthew Whitaker, Sessions’ chief of staff, will take over as acting attorney general.
In one of his first acts as attorney general, Sessions teamed with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to rescind Obama-era guidance on the rights of transgender students in public schools. Over this past summer, the two agencies ditched Obama-era guidance calling on school districts and universities to consider race as a factor in diversifying their campuses.
Sessions also played a role in the legal battle over the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that gives protection to an estimated 700,000 immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children. In September 2017, he announced the order to end DACA, but federal courts have blocked the move.
