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... Read more »
Today, the Obama Administration announced that 53 jurisdictions—including Detroit, MI—have committed to Police Data Initiative (PDI). As part of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, the White House launched PDI as a community of practices aiming to improve the relationship between citizens and police through uses of data that increase transparency, build community trust, and stre... Read more »
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 f... Read more »
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, regardle... Read more »
Today’s hearing gives us an opportunity to study how the International Trade Commission handles patent disputes and whether it sufficiently protects American innovation. In particular, we should focus on whether the Commission produces fair results to litigants and, most importantly, whether these results are beneficial to the American consumer. Congress established the Commission as an independe... Read more »
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: “The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in... Read more »
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 ou... Read more »
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. Nearly 30 years ago, Congress passed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 to provide a fair balance between the privacy expectations of American citizens and the legitimate needs of law enforcement agencies. The law sets fo... Read more »
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. 4899, the Restoring Statutory Rights Act of 2016, legislation to ensure that state, federal, and constitutional rights of all Americans are enforceable. “Forced arbitration ... Read more »
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 ... Read more »
