Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - The House Judiciary Committee today approved legislation to strengthen the Asbestos Trust System by promoting transparency that will combat the fraud and abuse that currently besets the system. Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Subcommittee Vice Chairman Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), chief sponsor of the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act (H.R. 982), praised the Committee vote.

Washington, D.C. - Tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., the House Judiciary Committee will hold a full committee hearing on the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, entitled “S. 744 and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: Lessons Learned or Mistakes Repeated?”  In the 1986 immigration overhaul, the American people were promised tougher enforcement of our immigration laws in exchange for the legalization of roughly three million people.

Washington, D.C. - Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., the House Judiciary Committee will hold a full committee hearing entitled, “Protecting U.S. Citizens’ Constitutional Rights During the War on Terror.”  The hearing will gather information and discuss the status of U.S. citizens’ constitutional rights during the ongoing war on terror with a particular focus on the authority to indefinitely detain U.S. citizen enemy combatants under the U.S. Constitution captured on U.S. soil. 

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General today released a scathing report on DOJ’s systemic mismanagement in the handling of known or suspected terrorists admitted into the federal Witness Security Program. The IG report found that the number of known or suspected terrorists admitted to the Witness Security Program is unknown, that DOJ has lost track of two suspected terrorists in the program, and that critical national security information is not being shared with other agencies.

Washington, D.C. - On Wednesday, May 15 at 1:00 p.m., Attorney General Eric Holder will testify before the House Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing on the U.S.

Washington, D.C. - A jury today found Kermit Gosnell guilty of three counts of first-degree murder against newborn babies who survived his abortions.  The jury also found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the death of one of his female patients, Karnamaya Mongar.  Gosnell had been charged with the serial murder of infants, the murder of a female patient, and other felonies committed in the operation of his abortion clinic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) released the following statement reacting to today’s verdict. 

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee Chairman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) have sent a letter to all 50 state attorneys general seeking to find out if state and local governments are being stymied in their efforts to protect the civil rights of newborns and their mothers and if the federal government might be able to partner with states to prevent newborn homicides.  The letter asks the state attorneys general to respond to several questions and to provide copies of any official written procedures or guidance that relate to the gathering of information on, or the prosecution of, newborn homicides by June 1,