(DETROIT) – On Friday, the Obama administration announced two executive actions to strengthen the federal firearms background check system. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is issuing a proposed rule to clarify terminology used in prohibiting firearms purchases on the basis of certain mental health reasons. In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing a proposed rule to... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, President Obama commuted the sentences of eight federal inmates serving lengthy time behind bars for nonviolent offenses related to crack cocaine under an older sentencing regime. This decision follows the implementation in 2011 of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, landmark criminal justice legislation that reduced mandatory minimum sentences for crack offenses and minimized the ... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) joined Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), CPC member and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, to urge the president to take swift action on 46 recommendations made by a presidential taskforce to reform the surveillance program at the National Security Agency (NSA) ... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, U.S. House Judiciary Chairman Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) responded to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon’s ruling yesterday that the National Surveillance Agency’s (NSA) bulk metadata collection program, which collects information on virtually all telephone calls in the United States, is likely unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unre... Read more »
Floor Statement of Rep. Melvin L. Watt (N.C.)General Debate in OppositionH.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act” December 5, 2013 M. Chair—I rise in opposition to H.R. 3309. The term “patent troll” has become convenient shorthand to refer to a class of plaintiffs who engage in abusive litigation tactics against deep-pocketed alleged infringers as well as individual inventors and small companies. I recogni... Read more »
Floor Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr.in Support of Conyers-Watt Substitute Amendment H.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act” December 5, 2013 On behalf of Representative Watt and myself, I am offering a substitute amendment that gives members an opportunity to vote for language that will actually address the identifiable abuses in the patent system. These abuses include the inability to ident... Read more »
Floor Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr. H.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act” December 5, 2013 Madam Speaker: There are few economic issues this Congress will face that are more important than our patent law system. Intellectual property is responsible for nearly half of our nation’s gross domestic product and one third of all jobs in the U.S. economy. Our patent system, while not perfect, is... Read more »
Statement of Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. Hearing on: The President’s Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws Committee on the Judiciary Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at 10:00 AM 2141 Rayburn Building The president’s constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws would be an important issue worthy of a hearing by the full committee if there was any evidence that the president has in... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), along with Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), and Congressman Luis Guti... Read more »
