Committees_Judiciary

Section 01 (9:30): Glaude, Sansoucy
The Committee on the Judiciary has a main focus on the courts, law enforcement, and judicial administration. As an active member in writing the Amendments, The Judiciary Committee makes decisions fairly and for the people. The committee is also responisble for the oversight of key activities in the executive branch and also all judicial nominations in the federal juries. This committee was started in 1816 as one of the original committees in the United States.

Trevor Sansoucy 2/10 In many of the hearing that the Committee on the Judiciary has had, they have supported and protected the labor unions.

The Committee has not supported the restitution of Japanese Americans. However, in 2002 US senator Russ Feingold motioned the Wartime Treatment Study Act to the committee which looks into fair treatment of European and Japanese Americans in the future if war were to break out again. The Committee stands for the constitutional rights of the people and for the fair treatment of all of the American people. The committee strongly supports the civil rights of all people no matter what their race in the United States and also has mentioned that the development of equal treatment of all people has come a long way in the past 30 years. People of a different were not even allowed to be fireman years ago and now they are seen as heroes in many communities and the Judiciary strongly supports these changes.

The Committee on the Judiciary motioned for the re-authorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. This gives protection to juveniles that are arrested, for example keeping them away from adult prisoners in jail, and keeping fair treatment of minority juveniles that are arrested. Although the Committee does not condone juvenile delinquency they do believe in fair representation for the juveniles that are arrested. The committee also works toward protecting arrested alien juveniles.

The Committie on the Judiciary will help to pass the 24th Amendment which states "The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax" This amendement not only takes away the poll tax but in doing so allows those who do not have the money which are usual minorities to be able to also vote like everyone else, those providing more and equal civil rights to all citizens of the United States.

Trevor Sansoucy 3/31- Richard Nixon
After the resignation of Richard Nixon the Supreme Court should have brought charges upon Nixon before he was pardoned by PResident Ford. There were several things that Nixon did in office that broke federal laws and were unconstitutional. He accepted bribes from companies during his time in office, and was also part of a break in that took place at the Watergate Towers. The lack of action taken by the government shows me that the government wanted to look past Nixon's action so that they could quickly get past this black mark on their reputation. However, the lack of effort to charge Nixon of any crimes, makes the government look not only stubborn for refusing to accept responsibility for it's mistakes but also the government look like they do not have any care for stopping these actions from happening again. Although Nixon made many mistakes while in office and did break several laws I do not feel that it would have been necessary to punish Nixon by bringing him up on chargers for the crimes that he committed. After the Watergate incident his name was already ruined as a president and I do not feel it would have been the United States best interest to sent the former president to jail. It would have made the United States look weak and corrupt to other countries.
 * Robert Glaude**

Section 06 (10:30): Deane, Macera, Zoppo
As part of the U.S. Senate, the Judiciary Committee decides constitutional and social issues pertaining the rights of both businesses and citizens. Their responsibilities include overseeing initial stages of the confirmation process of all judiciary nominations including Supreme Court Judges, oversight of the executive branch, and oversight legal decisions pertaining to Antitrust laws, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights; The Constitution; Crime and Drugs; Human Rights and the Law; Immigration, Refugees and Border Security; and Terrorism and Homeland Security.

In regards to restitution for interned Japanese Americans, we purposed a symbolic restitution be rewarded in the amount of $20,000 in addition to a Presidential apology. This idea was molded from the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 whose purpose was to "acknowledge the fundamental injustice of the evacuation, relocation, and internment of United States citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry during World War II ; apologize on behalf of the people of the United States for the evacuation, relocation, and internment of such citizens and permanent resident aliens;provide for a public education fund to finance efforts to inform the public about the internment of such individuals so as to prevent the recurrence of any similar event; make restitution to those individuals of Japanese ancestry who were interned" and to "make more credible and sincere any declaration of concern by the United States over violations of human rights committed by other nations."

In regards to the growing problem of juvenile delinquency, Congress passed both The Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Control Act and The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act in 1968 and 1974 respectively. The aim of the former was to "encourage states to develop plans and programs that would work on a community level to discourage juvenile delinquency" and the latter was to create the following entities: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), The Runaway Youth Program, and The National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (NIJJDP).


 * Reaction to the Memorandum from the Judiciary Committee on Watergate**


 * Todd Zoppo**: After reading the paper from the Judiciary Committee i agree with what was done. I especially agree that the last thing that the country needed was a dragged out impeachment trial. I think the Judiciary Committee believed that the whole Watergate scandal needed to get over and out of the news.

Re: Indictment Memo I don't necessarily agree that resignation is punishment enough for President Nixon's actions. Although resignation is humiliating, letting him off the hook as a criminal still lends itself to the idea that the President is actually above the law, as Nixon himself claimed. I agree that the times call for conciliation, and do not think that goal will be compromised in pursuing further legal actions, however, "there would be considerable difficulty in achieving a fair trial" due to the massive publicity of the situation. In further pursuing legal actions, I think it may give the country a bit of resolve in seeing a criminal action be justly handled, where a pardon might be more divisive.
 * Paul Deane**:

The papers about whether or not to prosecute Nixon in my eyes are focussed the wrong way. I feel as though no one should be above the law and by the government allowing Nixon to walk is clearly letting him get off from crimes others would pay for for years in prison. He wasn't impeached he left before hand and he should still be charged.
 * Jim Macera:**
 * For 2/10 - consider the following Truman-era issues:**

Should there be restitution for interned Japanese Americans? Are labor unions corrupt? Is youth crime and juvenile delinquency a growing problem? What should Congress do about it?

Here are instructions on what to do with those questions and how to prepare for Wed 2/10.