Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) issued statements strongly opposing efforts by Republicans to overturn anti-discrimination bills that protect workplace equality, reproductive choice, and educational equality in the District of Columbia. Ranking Member Conyers stated: “... Read more »
Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to formally investigate the police-involved beating of Floyd Dent, an unarmed African American man, which occurred in Inkster, Michigan. On January 28, 2015, Inkster Police pulled over Floyd Dent after alleging he ran a stop sign. D... Read more »
Today, House Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 22 individuals - each of whom had been convicted of drug offenses: “I welcome and applaud the commutations of the sentences of these individuals. Incarcerating people for unwarranted lengths of time serves no constructive purpose. The ... Read more »
– Yesterday, lead sponsors Rep. John Lewis (GA-5), House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5), Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (SC-6), Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13), and Rep. Robert Brady (PA-1) and more than 170 Democrats reintroduced the Voter Empowerment Act in the House of Representatives. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York will introduce a companion version in the Senate. The Vo... Read more »
Today, U.S. House Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) reintroduced H.R. 1459, the “Democracy Restoration Act of 2015.” Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) yesterday introduced its Senate companion, S. 772. The bill would create uniform federal standards for returning the voting rights of ex-offenders to vote in federal elections. The legislation could result in returning the right to vote f... Read more »
House Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers today introduced the Judicial Redress Act of 2015, which: Extends citizens of major U.S. allies the core benefits that Americans enjoy under the Privacy Act with regard to information shared with the United States for law enforcement purposes; Serves as an important show of support for our allies and is critical to ensure continued sharing of information... Read more »
Today, several educational, legal, human rights, and media organizations filed suit to challenge the National Security Agency’s “upstream collection” surveillance programs, which monitor all international Internet traffic by intercepting, copying and reviewing Americans’ communications en masse by intercepting telephone and Internet traffic from major Internet cables and switches, both foreign and... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement after the Department of Justice released a report that cites the Missouri Ferguson Police Department engaged in a systemic and broad pattern of racially biased enforcement, including the use of unreasonable force against African-Americans: “In verifying longstanding community complaints, the DOJ Fer... Read more »
