Government Oversight
To advance its legislative agenda, the Judiciary Committee conducts regular oversight of the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other government agencies. The Committee is also responsible for determining whether to recommend articles of impeachment against federal officials. In 2019, the Committee advanced two articles of impeachment against Donald J. Trump to the House of Representatives.
More on Government Oversight
Yesterday the Department of Justice issued an updated policy statement to curb the risks of unlawful profiling by federal law enforcement agencies. Building on the 2003 guidance issued by the Bush administration, the new policy expands covered classifications to include gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity and includes activities related to national security and intelligence. In response to this announcement, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. released the following statement:
Today, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a redacted summary of its 6,000-page report on the use of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency. The report concludes that the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques in the years following the attacks of September 11, 2001 did not effectively assist the agency in acquiring intelligence or in gaining cooperation from detainees. The report also shows that the CIA worked to undermine oversight of its Detention and Interrogation Program, actively misleading the Congress, the Department of Justice, and the White House.
Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) sent a letter to Chief Judge Ed Carnes and Judge Gerald Tjoflat of the United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit regarding the arrest and the ongoing prosecution of Middle District of Alabama Judge Mark Fuller in Atlanta, Georgia for a violation of state criminal law.
Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr., released the following statement after the Senate fell two votes short of ending debate on the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014. The 58-42 vote effectively cuts off any prospect of surveillance reform in the 113th Congress. The USA FREEDOM Act would have introduced sweeping reforms to various government surveillance programs, including the bulk collection of telephone metadata at the National Security Agency.
House and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Members John Conyers, Jr. and Chuck Grassley are raising questions about a new practice by the Justice Department denying certain records to the department's Inspector General.