Patrick Leahy

WASHINGTON -- Dec. 4, 2007 – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday exposed the White House for stalling key nominations for vacancies in the Department of Justice. The Administration Nov. 15 announced it intended to send nominations to Capitol Hill for the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, and the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. Almost three weeks later, the Senate has not received the nominations.

Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy,

Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee    » read more »

November 15, 2007 -- "The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed a better, stronger and more balanced bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including reducing the sunset provision from six to four years, to make it easier to make further improvements in the years to come. I am proud of the contribution the Judiciary Committee has made to the process of setting down clear laws to govern the wiretapping of Americans.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Friday, Nov. 9) – The three members of the Vermont Congressional Delegation -- Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) and Rep. Peter Welch (D) -- are pushing back against a new Bush Administration veto threat against expansion of the MILC program, the basic safety net for dairy farmers when prices plummet. The Administration included its objections to expanding the MILC program in a new veto warning message lodged this week against the Senate’s version of the Farm Bill.    » read more »

November 8, 2007 -- This debate has boiled down to a discussion of principles that are as vital to American ideals and to the American soul as is the fleeting issue of who will act as the Attorney General for the next 14 months. During the Judiciary Committee’s consideration of this nomination earlier this week, Senators Kennedy, Kohl, Feingold, Durbin, Cardin, Whitehouse and I made clear the fallacy that would disregard settled law and discredit America’s role in the struggle for liberty and human dignity.    » read more »

1st Override Of A Bush Veto; Supported By Leahy, Sanders, Welch

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Nov. 8) – The U.S. Senate Thursday joined the House of Representatives in overriding President Bush’s veto of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) – the first time Congress has overridden a veto during the Bush Administration. The bipartisan Senate vote was 79 to 14 in favor of overriding the veto.

The bill authorizes water resources projects in Vermont and nationwide, which now will be subject to funding in the annual Appropriations process.    » read more »

Administration’s Lack Of Oversight Cooperation Overshadowed Mukasey Confirmation Proceedings

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007) – In a letter sent Wednesday to White House Counsel Fred Fielding, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) again requested legal memoranda outlining the White House’s justifications and policies on torture and interrogation. Such documents have long been requested but not provided.    » read more »

State Department Official Reportedly Refuses To Declare Waterboarding Of Americans Illegal

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, Nov. 7) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is asking Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to clarify reports that a senior aide in the State Department refuses to deem illegal under international law the waterboarding of Americans abroad.    » read more »

November 5, 2007 -- [Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) chairs the Senate’s Subcommittee On State And Foreign Operations – the Appropriations Committee panel which handles funding for U.S. assistance to Pakistan and which has budget jurisdiction over the State Department.]

“General Musharraf has made a colossal blunder. He says he needs emergency laws to fight terrorism, but his crackdown targets the courts, lawyers, the press, political opponents and human rights defenders. It seems clear that his primary goal is to keep himself in power as president and as army chief.    » read more »

Burlington, Vermont -- November 2, 2007 -- "Nothing is more fundamental to our constitutional democracy than our basic tenet that no one is above the law.

This Administration has undercut that precept time and time again. We have seen this Administration promote immunity over accountability, secrecy over responsiveness to congressional oversight, and unilateral power over the checks and balances that have defined this Nation and protected Americans’ rights and freedom for more than two centuries.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007) – The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday passed bipartisan legislation introduced by Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) and co-sponsored by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that strengthens and clarifies key aspects of federal criminal law, and provides new tools to help law enforcement combat public corruption nationwide.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Committee Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) Wednesday sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler expressing concerns about the more than 20 U.S. Attorney vacancies nationwide and asking whether the Administration is working with home-state Senators to identify nominees to fill each of these positions.    » read more »

October 31, 2007 -- "The Judiciary Committee has an important hearing today and a full agenda for our previously scheduled meeting tomorrow. I hope we can make progress of these matters. We have a limited time to focus on proposals to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that require our attention for the next several days. We have other executive nominations, a circuit court nomination, corruption legislation, cybercrime legislation, human rights legislation, and courts legislation that Senators have been working on in a bipartisan way for a long time.    » read more »

Three Of Four Documents Made Available To Judiciary Committee Previously In Public Domain

WASHINGTON (Tuesday, Oct. 30) – Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday repeated his call for the White House to declassify one of four torture documents provided to the Committee last week. The documents were supplied to Leahy after repeated requests for full disclosure of the Administration’s interrogation policies and the legal basis for those policies.    » read more »

October 25, 2007 -- Today, the Committee has the opportunity to consider the bipartisan “Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act of 2007,” a bill that I introduced with Senator Cornyn to strengthen and clarify key aspects of federal criminal law and provide new tools to help law enforcement attack public corruption nationwide.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Oct. 25) -- U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday began circulating a letter to their fellow Northeast Senate Colleagues urging Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson to approve the Northeast Regional Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load cleanup plan. As part of the plan, the region requires enhanced federal guidelines for mercury pollution coming into the Northeast from other parts of the country.    » read more »