Today’s hearing focuses on federal diversity jurisdiction whereby federal courts may hear otherwise purely state law cases if the plaintiff and the defendant are citizens of different states. For more than 2 centuries, Congress has imposed, and the Supreme Court has upheld, the requirement of “complete” diversity, which mandates that every plaintiff must be a citizen of a different state than ever... Read more »
U.S. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) today led a letter signed by every Democratic member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee requesting that U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General Loretta Lynch investigate allegations of bribery and other criminal misconduct concerning the $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation to Florida Attorney General Pam... Read more »
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 11:00 a.m. Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice Hearing on: Exploring Federal Diversity Jurisdiction Witnesses: Mr. Charles Cooper, Partner, Cooper & Kirk, PLLC Ms. Joanna Shepherd, Professor of Law, Emory Law School Mr. Ronald Weich, Professor of Law, University of Baltimore 2237 Rayburn House Office Building 1:00 p.m. Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Prope... Read more »
Mr. Speaker, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States was the deadliest foreign attack on American soil in our Nation’s history. Its impact has been immeasurable as evidenced by the fact that we are still grappling with the cultural and policy implications stemming from the events of that day. And, 15 years on, most Americans continue to feel its searing emotional impact, parti... Read more »
H.R. 3438, the “Require Evaluation before Implementing Executive Wishlists Act of 2016,” would stay the enforcement of any rule imposing an annual cost to the economy in excess of $1 billion pending judicial review. Notwithstanding the bill’s colorful short title, H.R. 3438 would have a pernicious impact on rulemaking and the ability of agencies to respond to critical health and safety issues. In ... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Ranking Member Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (D-GA) today released the following statements after H.R. 5063, the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2016 passed the U.S. House of Representatives. “H.R. 5063 is a deeply flawed bill that imposes an abysmal solution to a... Read more »
The purpose of today’s hearing is to examine the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund. Congress created the Judgment Fund in 1956 to reduce its appropriations workload. Prior to establishing the Fund, Congress devoted an inordinate amount of its time to appropriating monies to satisfy run-of-the-mill legal judgments and settlements on a case-by-case basis. Today, the Fund permits agencies to obtain... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 111 individuals earlier this week: “We are grateful for having worked with President Obama to make reforms to our criminal justice system. Without his p... Read more »
Members of the bipartisan Policing Strategies Working Group traveled to Detroit, Michigan on August 29-30, 2016 to meet with local community leaders and law enforcement to discuss police accountability, aggression towards law enforcement, and public safety concerns related to these issues. The members who traveled to Detroit to join House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mic... Read more »
Washington, D.C. (Aug. 30, 2016)—Today, Reps. Elijah E. Cummings, John Conyers, Jr., Elliot L. Engel, and Bennie G. Thompson, the Ranking Members of the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and Homeland Security, sent a detailed letter to FBI Director James Comey requesting that the FBI assess whether connections between Trump campaign officials and Russ... Read more »