{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-statement-on-the-state-of-civil-rights", "Leahy Statement On The State of Civil Rights", "2014-12-09", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Patrick Leahy", "L000174", "www.leahy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.09.14\n\t\t\t Leahy Statement On The State of Civil Rights \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON (Tuesday, December 9, 2014) \u2013 The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights is currently holding a hearing on \u201cThe State of Civil and Human Rights in the United States.\u201d Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) helped to pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was enacted in 2009 and broadened federal hate crimes law to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.\u00a0 He is the author of the bipartisan, bicameral legislation to strengthen the Voting Rights Act and combat voter discrimination in all states and jurisdictions, and a cosponsor of the bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act, which would lower nonviolent drug mandatory sentences. Senator Leahy\u2019s statement for the record for today\u2019s hearing is below. Testimony, member statements, and a webcast of the hearing are available online.\r\n\u00a0\r\nStatement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing on \u201cThe State of Civil and Human Rights in the United States\u201d December 9, 2014\r\nDr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, \u201cThe arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.\u201d\u00a0 However, the arc does not bend towards justice without effort.\u00a0 We must put in the necessary hard work \u2013 as well as build the foundation and structure \u2013 for justice to prevail.\u00a0 It has taken the blood, sweat, and tears of many Americans to push for a \u201cmore perfect union.\u201d\u00a0 We must not stop now.\r\nThere are too many cracks in this foundation, especially in areas such as voting rights, the criminal justice system, and privacy and civil liberties.\u00a0 In the area of voting rights, states continue to pass restrictive voting laws that disenfranchise millions of voters, a disproportionate number of which are minorities.\u00a0 Discriminatory voting laws have become even more common in the wake of last year\u2019s Supreme Court decision dismantling key provisions of the Voting Rights Act.\r\nOur criminal justice system incarcerates too many individuals, especially non-violent drug offenders, because of its reliance on mandatory minimum sentences.\u00a0 And there continues to be distrust between law enforcement and communities of color because of a long history of unfair treatment towards minorities.\r\nOn privacy, we have seen that the Federal government can overreach when we do not remain vigilant.\u00a0 We have seen the privacy rights of American citizens violated through the indiscriminate bulk collection of data about their lives without compelling justification.\u00a0 These are just some of the significant problems that continue to test our Nation \u2013 and which we have not adequately addressed.\r\nAs Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and as a Senator who has served the state of Vermont and this country for nearly 40 years, I will continue to fight to address these problems.\u00a0 I believe in being part of a constructive process to reform our system and address these injustices.\u00a0 That is why I have introduced bipartisan bills this past Congress to help ensure that the moral arc continues to bend towards justice.\r\nIn January 2014, on the eve of the weekend celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King\u2019s holiday, I introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014 along with Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner, John Conyers, and John Lewis that would have restored the most fundamental protections of the law.\u00a0 Senator Durbin was an original cosponsor of our legislation.\u00a0 This bill was drafted in response to the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Shelby County v. Holder in which five justices disregarded extensive findings of Congress and gutted the Voting Rights Act. \u00a0A narrow and conservative majority of the Court struck down the coverage formula and dramatically undercut the Act\u2019s ability to protect Americans from racial discrimination in voting.\u00a0 I have been disappointed that not a single Senate Republican has joined our efforts to restore the voting rights of all Americans, despite mounting evidence that in too many places, racial discrimination in voting persists.\r\nWithin weeks of the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling, Republican governors and state legislatures exploited the Shelby County decision in order to implement sweeping voter suppression laws that disproportionately prevent African Americans from voting.\u00a0 In North Carolina, the Republican legislature and governor passed the most comprehensive voter suppression law in recent memory.\u00a0 That state law resulted in many minorities, students, elderly and lower income individuals being disenfranchised this past election.\u00a0 In Texas, then-Attorney General Greg Abbott pushed to immediately implement the most restrictive voter ID law in the country.\u00a0 A Federal judge found the restrictive Texas voter ID law to be an \u201cunconstitutional poll tax\u201d that could disenfranchise up to 600,000 voters, most of whom would be African Americans and Hispanics.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the Supreme Court allowed the law to be implemented for this past November\u2019s election.\u00a0 We must act in the new Congress to restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act.\r\nReforming our nation\u2019s sentencing laws must also remain a high priority.\u00a0 The United States has a mass incarceration problem.\u00a0 Between 1970 and 2010, the number of people incarcerated grew by 700 percent.\u00a0 Although the United States has only five percent of the world\u2019s population, we incarcerate almost a quarter of its prisoners.\u00a0 This is largely driven by inflexible and unfair mandatory minimum sentences, which disproportionately impact communities of color.\u00a0 Our one-size-fits-all approach to sentencing has been a great mistake, and Congress must fix it.\u00a0 Our Smarter Sentencing Act would allow reductions in certain drug sentences by providing judges more discretion to determine an appropriate sentence.\u00a0\u00a0It is time to stop relying on decades-old policy that has been disproven and is simply unjust.\u00a0 The Judiciary Committee approved this legislation on a bipartisan basis this year, and I hope we can work together so that the full Senate can pass this legislation next year.\r\nRight now, Americans are having an important conversation about the loss of human life in communities across the country.\u00a0 A critical piece of this conversation is about the relationship between law enforcement and communities of color.\u00a0 We must reexamine the militarization of our law enforcement because while no one questions that law enforcement must maintain order, equipping police officers with the tools of war does nothing to repair a torn community.\u00a0 I have long worked to improve our civil asset forfeiture program, and I am confident both parties can work to address this in the new year.\r\nThe issue of privacy and our civil liberties is also in need of reform.\u00a0 The advancement of our civil rights includes the preservation of our civil liberties.\u00a0 Last summer, Americans learned for the first time that the government is secretly collecting the telephone records of innocent Americans \u2013 regardless of whether there is any connection whatsoever to terrorism or criminal activity.\u00a0 In response, I introduced the USA FREEDOM Act to end the indiscriminate bulk collection of our private records and enact much-needed reforms to the government\u2019s surveillance authorities.\u00a0 This bipartisan bill was supported by the Intelligence Community, privacy and civil liberties groups of all interests and viewpoints, the high-tech industry, and lawmakers across the political spectrum.\u00a0 I fought to advance the bill last month because it was of critical importance, both to preserve the civil liberties of our citizens but also to protect our national security.\u00a0 Despite its broad support, Senate Republicans would not even allow a debate to begin on our legislation, but I will continue to fight for these reforms in the new Congress.\r\nAs the 113th Congress comes to a close, it is essential to have this critical examination of the state of civil rights in this Nation and I thank Senator Durbin for chairing this important hearing.\u00a0 Bending the arc towards justice can oftentimes be very, very difficult.\u00a0 We know from our shared experience that we cannot be the Nation that we strive to be by setting the dial on autopilot and assuming that all will be well.\u00a0 Recently we have seen and experienced setbacks.\u00a0 We must, however, continue the fight by building bridges and proposing solutions.\u00a0 I will continue to do so in my role as a United States Senator and hope that other members of this body will as well.\u00a0\r\n# # # # #\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tPress Contact  David Carle: 202-224-3693", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-statement-on-the-state-of-civil-rights"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.2381930612027645, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}