U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, together with 31 original cosponsors, introduced H.R. 4754, the Emergency Financial Manager Reform Act of 2016 to address unchecked decision-making powers that appointed emergency financial managers have in financially distressed cities. “We cannot undo the damage already done by the lead-poisoned water in F... Read more »
Today’s Executive Overreach Task Force hearing examines whether President Obama has violated the U.S. Constitution with respect to his authority to enforce the Affordable Care Act and the immigration laws. These are both issues that the full Committee has repeatedly considered in the past and it is clear to me that the President has not violated any constitutional limitations on the exercise of h... Read more »
Today’s hearing focuses on whether the Supreme Court’s articulation of judicial deference in Chevron is a concept that should be retained in federal administrative law. I believe the Chevron doctrine should be retained for several reasons. To begin with, enhanced judicial review would make rulemaking even more costly and time-consuming for agencies. The federal rulemaking process is already deepl... Read more »
Tuesday, March 15, 2016 10:00 a.m. Executive Overreach Task Force Hearing 2141 Rayburn House Office Building Hearing on: "Executive Overreach in Domestic Affairs Part I – Health Care and Immigration" Witnesses: Ms. Elizabeth P. Papez, Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP Mr. Josh Blackman, Associate Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law/Houston Mr. Simon Lazarus, Senior Counsel, Constitutional Ac... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), and the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) today released the following joint statement in the wake of the death of Tiffany May Joslyn, Deputy Chief Counsel of the Crime Subcommittee (Democ... Read more »
“At the markup for the resolution establishing the Executive Overreach Task Force, I had expressed the concern that this Task Force might be used as a platform for partisan political attacks. “I also expressed the hope that we could work collaboratively in some areas of mutual interest, in particular those centering on strengthening Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. ... Read more »
“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 t... Read more »
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: Mr. Matthew Spalding, Associate Vice President and Dean of Educational Programs Hillsdale College, Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship Mr. James C. Capretta, Vi... Read more »
“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. “Under cur... Read more »
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. As encryption has increasingly become much more widespr... Read more »
