Thursday, Feburary 11 10:00 a.m. Full Committee Markup (click here to watch) 2141 Rayburn House Office Building H.R. 2947, the “Financial Institution Bankruptcy Act of 2015”: This bill is a product of the Judiciary Committee’s long-standing oversight of U.S. bankruptcy laws as well as the Committee’s recent examination into improving the bankruptcy laws for the resolution of financial institutions... Read more »
Yesterday, President Obama announced that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Department of Justice, in response to the President’s directive in July, has issued a report concerning the use of solitary confinement in America. The report includes recommended strategies for prisons at the federal, state, and local levels to pursue, safely reduce solitary confinement, and details changes that... Read more »
“As a longtime champion of reentry and criminal justice reform, I am encouraged by the Committee’s continued bipartisan progress in moving reform legislation and today’s markup of H.R., 3406, the ‘Second Chance Reauthorization Act.’ With its enactment under President George W. Bush in 2008, the Second Chance Act was Congress’ first major bipartisan step toward addressing the Nation’s exploding pri... Read more »
Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released the following statement after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 95 individuals, including three in Michigan, and the pardoning of two individuals: “I welcome and applaud the commutations and pardons announced today. Incarcerating people for unwarranted lengths of time serves no construc... Read more »
On a bipartisan basis, the House Judiciary Committee has been working on several bills to improve our broken criminal justice system. These bills will insure that our federal criminal laws and regulations are effectively and appropriately enforced, operate with fairness and compassion, protect individual freedom, safeguard civil liberties, work as efficiently as possible, do not impede state effor... Read more »
The House Judiciary Committee today approved by voice vote bipartisan legislation to reform federal sentencing laws. The Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 (H.R. 3713) – authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Congressman ... Read more »
“H.R. 3713, the ‘Sentencing Reform Act,’ responds to the growing recognition, in our states and now in Congress, that we must make meaningful reforms to various aspects of our criminal justice system – particularly mandatory minimum sentencing. “As with any policy, it is our responsibility in Congress to examine the facts and make adjustments from time-to-time, and the facts demand that we take a... Read more »
“Madam Attorney General, welcome to the House Judiciary Committee. “Nearly seven months ago, after much delay in the Senate, you took over for our friend Eric Holder at the Department of Justice. “With, not one, but two tours of duty as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, you are unquestionably the right leader at this moment for the important work of the Department. “Nowhere i... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Unveils Bills to Address Federal Over-Criminalization These bills are part of the Committee’s bipartisan criminal justice reform initiative As part of the House Judiciary Committee’s criminal justice reform initiative, members of the House Judiciary Committee unveiled four bills to rein in the explosion of federal criminal law, commonly referred to as over-criminalization... Read more »
As part of the House Judiciary Committee’s criminal justice reform initiative, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Congressman Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Congressman Mike Bishop (R-Mich.), and Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-Calif.) ... Read more »
