Judiciary

WASHINGTON – Last night, Congressman Cohen voted for and the House Judiciary Committee passed a series of bills to help respond to gun violence. Those bills included H.R. 1236, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019, amended to include provisions from H.R. 3076, the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act; H.R. 1186, the Keep Americans Safe Act; and H.R. 2708, the Disarm Hate Act. Congressman Cohen is a cosponsor of all four bills.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, today presided at a hearing examining "Evidence of Current and Ongoing Voting Discrimination." This was the fifth hearing this year on the consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court's Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder ruling and state laws weakening voting rights protections.

MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, today convened a hearing on "Discriminatory Barriers to Voting" at the Historic Moot Courtroom of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. Congressman Cohen was pleased to welcome to Memphis House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas for this important hearing. This was the fourth hearing on voting rights held by the Subcommittee this year.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, will preside at a Memphis Field Hearing on "Discriminatory Barriers to Voting" on Thursday, September 5, in the Historic Moot Courtroom of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law on Front Street downtown. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas are expected to attend the hearing.

Among the witnesses at the hearing will be:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today reacted to the 31 deaths and multiple injuries this weekend by shooters in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, with the following statement:

"The horrific killings in Texas and Ohio are yet another grim reminder that people with nefarious motives are getting access to weapons of war and using them on defenseless civilians as they go about their daily lives. Weapons of war have no place in the hands of civilians and background checks for purchasing guns must be thorough.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, questioned Special Counsel Robert Mueller about President Trump's efforts to get then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to "un-recuse" himself and take over the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Sessions had been a senior advisor to the Trump campaign and relied on Department of Justice guidance before deciding to recuse himself.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today joined House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Senator Kamala Harris of California in introducing the Marijuana Opportunity and Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. The bill aims to correct the injustices of our failed drug policies by removing Marijuana from Schedule I in the Control Substances Act, investing in communities that have been disproportionately affected, and requiring re-sentencing and expungement for prior convictions.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, today voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for their willful failure to comply with lawful subpoenas and document requests. The vote was 230 to 198.

Afterward, Congressman Cohen made the following statement: