Hearing on the Nomination of James K. Robinson To Be Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division

April 22, 1998

One of the real pleasures of this job is the opportunity to see outstanding individuals with remarkable backgrounds step forward to undertake the often thankless challenges of public service. This is such an occasion.

Mr. Robinson, you appear especially well suited to the job of leading the Criminal Division. You are a distinguished attorney, with important experience as both a federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. You are a past president of the Michigan Bar Association; the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors; a law school professor and Dean; and a legal scholar, who has authored over forty publications, including a multi-volume treatise on evidence.

Your experience as United State Attorney is particularly significant. This should provide you the management experience and background that you will need to do this new job effectively. In addition, as a former U.S. Attorney, you should have a full appreciation for how the resources at Main Justice can best help our 93 U.S. Attorney offices, which handle most of the criminal prosecutions and civil litigation on behalf of the United States around the country.

The Department’s Criminal Division has not had a Senate-confirmed head for more than two years. This does not mean that the Assistant Attorney General position for has been vacant, since others have filled the position on an acting basis. The Attorney General’s most recent annual report reflects just what a good job the Department has been doing: federal prosecutors around the country conducted more than 23,000 grand juries and filed more than 38,000 indictments against more than 58,000 defendants. The report indicates an overall conviction rate of 87 percent. That is impressive and a real testament to the many dedicated career investigators, prosecutors and support personnel who enforce the laws with consummate professionalism. It also is a real testament to the top career officials in the Criminal Division -- Jack Keeney, who has had an outstanding career of public service, and those who have been laboring so hard to manage the Division over the last days and months. Mr. Keeney and all of the career personnel in the Department deserve our thanks and appreciation.

If this confirmation process focuses on your qualifications and capabilities, I have every confidence that you will be confirmed quickly and with strong bipartisan support. If your nomination is used as an opportunity to engage in partisan attacks or to impose an ideological agenda, we may be in for additional delay. I will work with you and the Attorney General and do all that I can to ensure your speedy confirmation. I look forward to your leadership of the Criminal Division and to working with you to provide this country with the federal law enforcement that it deserves.

In particular, I would like to work with you on legislation to protect victims’ rights in all stages of criminal proceedings. Senator Kennedy and I have introduced S.1081, the "Crime Victims Assistance Act," to ensure that victims of crime are treated with fairness, dignity, and compassion throughout the criminal justice process.

In addition, I hope you bring a fresh perspective to the Department on how to craft a responsible and workable encryption policy for our country. As Secretary Daley recently pointed out, our current encryption policy encourages the growth of foreign producers of encryption software "at the same time it retards growth here." He places the blame for our failed encryption policy directly at the feet of law enforcement and what he describes as law enforcement’s "unwillingness to compromise." Consequently, despite the fact that there are solutions out there, "Law enforcement is foregoing the opportunity to have some problems addressed, while effectively forcing our producers to go overseas or fall off the cutting edge of the market."

This is not good policy for American high-tech industries, for American jobs, and, in the long term, certainly not good policy for law enforcement.