News

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the following statement in response to media reports indicating that Obama Administration advisers plan to recommend that 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators be tried in military commissions in the U.S.

Washington, DC - Senator John Cornyn (TX) and Representative Lamar Smith (TX-21) introduced companion bills in the Senate and House today to improve the security of our nation’s visa issuing process.  The Secure Visas Act of 2010, HR 4758, mandates that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) maintain U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Visa Security Units (VSU) at the 14 consular posts that already have them and create units at the 16 other posts that ICE has designated as “highest-risk.” 

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) released the following joint statement on the Senate Judiciary Committee draft for patent reform:

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.