Press Releases
"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to associate myself with your comments about our jurisdiction.
"It is not an accident that the House Judiciary Committee is the committee of primary jurisdiction with respect to the legal architecture of government surveillance.
"In times of heightened tension, many of our colleagues will rush to do something, anything, to get out in front of an issue. We welcome their voices in the debate-but it is here, in this Committee room, that the House begins to make decisions about the tools and methods available to law enforcement.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
10:00 a.m. Executive Overreach Task Force Hearing
2237 Rayburn House Office Building
"The Original Understanding of the Role of Congress and How Far We've Drifted From It"
Witnesses:
"H.R. 3624, the so-called "Fraudulent Joinder Prevention Act of 2016," is not really about fraud. Rather, this measure is just the latest attempt to tilt the civil justice system in favor of corporate defendants by making it more difficult for plaintiffs to pursue state law claims in state courts.
"I say this for several reasons. To begin with, H.R. 3624 addresses a nonexistent problem.
On Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at 1:00 p.m., the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing titled "The Encryption Tightrope: Balancing Americans' Security and Privacy." The House Judiciary Committee previously held member briefings on encryption, which included a briefing from technology companies and a classified briefing from the government.
"Today's hearing is the 29th anti-regulatory hearing that the Committee has held over the past 5 years. Yet, during those same 5 years, the Committee has not conducted a single hearing on –
"For several reasons, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in opposing H.R. 3892, the 'Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2015.'
"Most importantly, our Committee is marking up this bill without holding a single hearing and without considering the serious diplomatic and foreign policy ramifications of our actions.
"Less than one year ago, our Committee marked up a bill expressing the sense of Congress that the Taliban ought to be designated a terrorist organization by the United States government.
Yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) and House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice Ranking Member Steve Cohen (D-TN) issued a letter to U.S.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) released the following statement after the White House unveiled its roadmap for closing the U.S. military prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba:
Earlier this week, through a court order, the United States government demanded that Apple Inc. help the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) develop software in an effort to break the encryption on an iPhone that was recovered after the recent shootings in San Bernardino, California. The government cited the "All Writs Act," enacted in 1789, to demand that the technology company create a new version of the iPhone operating system to circumvent several security features on the device. Apple has five days to respond to the court's order.
Today, all sixteen Democratic Members of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary issued a letter to Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) requesting a hearing to examine the role of Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) in financially distressed cities in Michigan.