(DETROIT) – Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) joined with six other Members of Congress urged the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to bring more fairness to struggling students by establishing clear standards of eligibility for “undue hardship” discharge of federal student loans in bankruptcy. The members said this type of guidance would benefit the most vulnerable student loan de... Read more »
The House Judiciary Committee today approved by a vote of 32-0 the USA Freedom Act (H.R. 3361), a bipartisan bill authored by Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) to reform our nation’s intelligence-gathering programs operated under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), including ending the bulk collection of data. At... Read more »
The House of Representatives passed the strongly bipartisan H.R. 4292, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act by a vote of 388-4. By making a change to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, this legislation strengthens the ability of U.S. museums and schools to borrow foreign government-owned artwork and cultural artifacts. The bill was approved by the House Judici... Read more »
As announced last month, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law will hold an oversight hearing on the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 8th. The hearing is titled “Competition in the Video and Broadband Markets: the Proposed Merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable,” and will examine the potential competitive impacts... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) today announced that on Wednesday, May 7 at 1:00 p.m., the House Judiciary Committee will markup the USA FREEDOM Act (H.R. 3361), legislation introduced by Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) to reform our nation’s intelligence-gathering programs operated under the Foreign... Read more »
Today, Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole announced six criteria the Department of Justice will consider when reviewing and expediting clemency applications – for President Obama’s review and approval – from a select group of non-violent individuals behind bars. These petitions will be prioritized for review over other clemency petitions that do not require all six c... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, the United States Supreme Court in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, reversed the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s ruling and upheld Michigan Proposal 2 prohibiting affirmative action in public education, government contracting, and public employment. Today’s decision did not deal with the issue of race-conscious admissions generally, whic... Read more »
One year ago today, eight members of the U.S. Senate – Senators Schumer, Durbin, McCain, Rubio, Bennet, Menendez, Flake and Graham – introduced S. 744, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.” This comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. immigration system would bring millions of undocumented immigrants out of the shadows, strengthen American businesses, families,... Read more »
Today, U.S. House Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) reintroduced the “Democracy Restoration Act of 2014.” This legislation would reinstate the right to vote in federal elections for millions of Americans with a past conviction who are currently out of prison. In the United States today, there are more than 5.8 million individuals who are ineligible to vote due to a felony convic... Read more »
Today, Representative John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Representative Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led an 82 member letter to President Barack Obama urging him to renew enforcement of the ban on imported military-style firearms that was previously enforced during the H.W. Bush and Clinton administrat... Read more »
