Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Committee Ranking Minority Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif.) released the following joint statement on the status of patent reform in Congress:

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today criticized Democrats’ proposal to the Intelligence Authorization Act. The manager’s amendment imposes criminal penalties of up to 20 years on interrogators for the use of techniques including isolation, sleep deprivation, or even the mere presence of military working dogs during an interrogation.

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today criticized Attorney General Holder’s claim that the plea of Najibullah Zazi is proof that the federal courts can successfully handle the Gitmo terror trials. 

Ranking Member Smith: “The Attorney General claims that the plea of Zazi is proof that federal courts can handle the trials of terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay.  But comparing the prosecution of Zazi-a legal permanent resident of the U.S.-to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed-who engaged in an act of war against the U.S. by plotting the mass murder of Americans on 9-11-is misleading at best. 

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today called for Democrats to reauthorize national security provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act that are scheduled to expire at the end of this week. 

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today responded to the Justice Department’s decision not to pursue disciplinary action against the authors of the Office of Legal Counsel memos authorizing enhanced interrogation tactics:

Ranking Member Smith: “It is important that future government lawyers know that their efforts to protect Americans will not be criminalized by future administrations. 

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today urged the Justice Department to provide substantive information regarding the number of terrorists currently housed in U.S. prisons and the number of terrorists successfully prosecuted in the U.S. post 9-11.

According to the Administration, “hundreds of terrorism suspects have been successfully prosecuted in federal court since 9-11” and approximately 300 “international or domestic terrorists” are currently incarcerated in federals prisons.  But according to recent reports, these numbers may be inflated due the Department’s overbroad definition of “terror suspects.”

Washington, DC - Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX) today issued the following statement regarding the President’s fiscal year 2011 budget proposal:

“The President’s budget proves once again that the Obama administration is not serious about enforcing our nation’s immigration laws. 

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today issued the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s FY 2011 Budget request:

“The President’s FY 2011 budget allocates more than $400 million to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay: $350 million for detainee operations-including $237 million to purchase the Thomson prison in Illinois; and $73 million for the transfer, incarceration and prosecution of detainees. But these numbers do not even scratch the surface of the total cost to American taxpayers for the President’s ill-advised campaign promise to try terrorists in the U.S.