Constitution
The Committee on the Judiciary plays an important role in protecting people's constitutional rights and-when the Constitution falls short of its promise "to form a more perfect Union"-in amending the Constitution. In the 116th Congress, the Committee passed a resolution to revoke the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and held hearings on state efforts to curb people's constitutional right to an abortion, the lasting negative impact of Citizens United on our campaign finance system, the constitutional role of the pardon power, and opportunities to reform presidential clemency. The Committee also filed several lawsuits to uphold its constitutional authority to conduct oversight of the executive branch. In the 117th Congress, the Committee will continue to build on these accomplishments and further the Constitution's promise of a more perfect Union.
More on Constitution
The issue of the appropriate roles of Congress and the President with respect to the subject of foreign affairs is certainly worthy of a genuinely substantive discussion.
For instance, we could consider whether our Nation's current military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have been properly authorized by Congress.
Unfortunately, however, today's hearing – like the prior Task Force hearings – is yet another thinly veiled attack against the current Administration.
H.R. 5063, the "Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2016," would prohibit the enforcement or negotiation of any settlement agreement requiring donations to remediate harms that are not "directly and proximately" caused by a party's unlawful conduct.
The proponents of this bill claim that the Justice Department and civil enforcement agencies use such settlement agreements to unlawfully augment their own budgets as an end-run around the congressional appropriations process.
I oppose H.R. 5063 for several reasons.
Today, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced that he used his executive authority to restore the voting rights of more than 200,000 ex-offenders. As a result, ex-offenders in Virginia who are not in prison, on probation or parole will be permitted to register and vote in the upcoming presidential election. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), commended his actions with the following statement:
H.R. 4924, the "Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2016," is the latest attempt to erode the constitutional right to an abortion guaranteed by Roe v. Wade more than 40 years ago.
Among other things, the bill would make it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion if she or he knows that the procedure is being done because of the race or sex of the fetus or the race of one of the parents, regardless of viability.
As I noted in the 112th Congress, when we last considered this bill, the bill is deeply flawed for a number of reasons.
In 2014, in a unanimous ruling delivered by Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court concluded that the police may not search a cellphone without first demonstrating probable cause.
Citing an obvious Fourth Amendment interest in the vast amount of data we store on-and access from-our personal devices, the Court wrote:
I want to begin by thanking you, Chairman Goodlatte, and your staff, for working with us to develop the amendment before us now.
I also want to thank the members of the Digital Due Process Coalition, many of whom are represented here today, for their tireless dedication to the work of modernizing federal statute for the Internet age.
Over the last few weeks, Mr. Chairman, as we have worked out our few remaining differences on this bill, we have crafted what I believe to be an effective compromise.
The House Judiciary Committee today approved by a vote of 28-0 the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) to protect Americans' privacy and public safety in the digital age.
Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law (RRCAL) Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (D-GA) introduced H.R.
Today, senior Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and the chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) issued a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking the Department of Justice to review the impact of recently implanted voting restrictions across the country on