releases: https://www.jones.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-jones-urges-president-trump-to-appoint-civil-rights-cold-case-records-review-board-members
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.jones.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-jones-urges-president-trump-to-appoint-civil-rights-cold-case-records-review-board-members | Senator Jones Urges President Trump to Appoint Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board Members | 2020-06-12 | 2020 | 2020-06 | Democrat | House | AL | Doug Jones | J000300 | www.jones.senate.gov | legacy | BIRMINGHAM U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-Ala.)today wrote to President Donald Trump to urge him to appoint members to theCivil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board. While Congress passed Senator Jones' legislation to establish the board in 2018, and later appropriated $1 million requested by the Trump Administration to implement it, delays continue in the appointment of board members who would carry out the board's work. Senator Jones' bipartisanlegislation, theCivil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018, required the review, declassification, and release of government records related to unsolved Civil Rights-era criminal cases. To do this work, it established a Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board and required that appointments to the board should be made within 60 days. When you signed theCivil Rights Cold CaseRecords CollectionAct of 2018on January 8, 2019, you helped this country take an important step towards finding truth and reconciliation for families and communities still struggling with the pain of unsolved civil rights crimes,Senator Jones wrote.As our country is once again grappling with important questions related to civil rights, I urge you to appoint the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board as expeditiously as possible and fulfill the promise of this important legislation. Senator Jones, who successfully prosecuted two of the former Klansmen responsible for the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, has long advocated for expanded public access to civil rights cold case records in an effort to uncover the truth. In 2007, he alsotestified to the House Judiciary Committeein support of theEmmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Actthat established a special initiative in the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate civil rights cold cases. Full text of the letter can be foundhereand below. June 12, 2020 President Donald J. Trump The White House Office of the President 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500 DearPresidentTrump, When you signed the Civil Rights Cold CaseRecords CollectionAct of 2018 (the Act) on January 8, 2019, you helped this country take an important step towards finding truth and reconciliation for families and communities still struggling with the pain of unsolved civil rights crimes. As you will recall, the Act requires government offices to submit files and records about civil rights cold cases to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The legislation also establishesaCivil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board tofacilitate the review, transmission to NARA, and public disclosure of the records related to these civil rights cold cases.The Act gives you the authority to appoint the members of the Review Board and provides that the appointments shall be made within 60 days of enactment. It is my understanding that the White House has received recommendations for the Review Board, as provided by the Act, but as of the date of this letter, no Board members have been appointed and no work has begun to fulfill the purposes of the Act. Although Congress appropriated $1 million in the FY20 budget for the work of the Board, we are nearing the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, and I am concerned that those funds will go unused if the Board is not put in place soon. In your January 8, 2019 signing statement, you said, the Administration considers civil rights cold cases to be a matter of public importance, and you encouraged Congress to appropriate funds to implement the goals of the Act, which your statement fully supported. As our country is once again grappling with important questions related to civil rights, I urge you to appoint the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board as expeditiously as possible and fulfill the promise of this important legislation. If I or my staff can be of any assistance in this regard, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Doug Jones United States Senator Cc: Senator Ted Cruz, original cosponsor of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |