Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
Executive Business Meeting
September 20, 2007

Today, the Committee is considering the “Security from Political Interference in Justice Act of 2007,” S.1845. This bill was introduced by Senator Whitehouse to begin to correct what he has termed the “expanding portal” between the White House and the Department of Justice regarding communications about ongoing Department investigations. At our last meeting, Senator Whitehouse agreed to again hold over this bill, beyond the routine week, to accommodate Senator Kyl’s request. I recall that the Justice Department had come forward with 11th hour objections to the legislation.

I commend Senator Whitehouse for working during the intervening time with Senator Hatch and others to further refine the bill’s language. As soon as we have the requisite quorum I intend to recognize Senator Whitehouse to introduce the amendment he has circulated so that we can proceed to report his bill. I am pleased that Senator Hatch, again, supports the kinds of checks on communications between the White House and the Justice Department he advocated during the Clinton Administration.

The “Security from Political Interference in Justice Act of 2007,” is another important step towards repairing the damage that has been done to the Department of Justice over recent years. This oversight bill should help restore some of the better practices at the Department to limit the political influence of the White House by providing additional information to Congress about communications between the White House and the Department as a check on untoward influence.

It was during our hearings on the unprecedented mass firings of U.S. Attorneys that Senator Whitehouse first sounded the alarm about the dramatically expanded number of White House and Department officials permitted by the last Attorney General to communicate regarding civil and criminal investigations. We do not have to merely imagine the threat to the independence of law enforcement arising from those communications. Our investigation revealed instances in which the Department had been reduced to a political arm of the White House, with respected prosecutors fired, bad cases filed, and hiring done for partisan purposes.

I trust we will be able to report S.1845 this morning.

Next, I will turn to the Chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee, Senator Kohl, to begin our consideration after a week’s holdover of the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act. I understand Senator Kohl has an amendment, but that is the only amendment that has been circulated. Accordingly, I hope that we will be able to complete our consideration of that bill this morning and vote to report it, as well.

Then, if there is no objection, we can consider the media shield legislation. Senator Lugar and Senator Dodd have been leaders in seeking to enact such a measure. Senator Specter has worked extremely hard while he chaired this Committee and this year on media shield legislation with Senator Schumer. Today, I think all of us, Senators Lugar, Dodd, Specter, Schumer and Leahy are prepared to endorse a measure that with the support of the Committee can be reported to the Senate and, we hope, considered and passed by the Senate this year. Unless there is a request for a hold, I believe that the substitute is the only amendment circulated to the Free Flow of Information Act in accordance with our Committee rules and procedures and we could vote to report that today, as well.

The final measure on our legislative agenda is a bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Durbin and Coburn, the Chairman and Ranking Member of our new Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. They have circulated an amendment to the Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act. Unless there is a request to hold that matter over, we could vote to report that measure today, as well.

In terms of nominations, we have two on the agenda today. We have the nominations of Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod of Texas for a lifetime appointment to the Fifth Circuit and that of Patrick Shen to be Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices at the Department of Justice.

With the cooperation of the Committee, we can make significant progress this morning on all these items.

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