Judiciary
NEW MARKET, Tenn. — U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen is asking for a federal investigation of a fire that destroyed the main office at a Tennessee center that played a prominent role in the civil rights movement.
Leaders of the Highlander Research and Education Center have said they found a "white power" symbol spray-painted near the scene of the March 29 fire. Local investigators have not said whether arson is suspected.
As the presidential campaign heats up, so too has the movement to abolish or otherwise neutralize the electoral college.
Some advocates argue that the electoral college was originally established to help less-populated states retain power, or to have every part of the country heard from in electing a chief executive. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) claims the system was designed to help the slave states.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) wrote to Attorney General William Barr Thursday asking him to investigate the recent fire at the Highlander Education and Research Center in New Market, Tennessee, for possible violations of federal law. Press accounts indicate a racist symbol, identical to one used by the mass murderer of mosque worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, was spray-painted at the sight of the Highlander fire.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, led a letter to House Appropriation Committee leaders, signed by 40 of his House colleagues, asking them to include language prohibiting the use of federal funds at businesses owned in whole or in part by President Trump in the annual spending bills for the next fiscal year beginning October 1. See the full letter here.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, today voted for, and the House passed, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA), which preserves and improves protections for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. The vote was 263 to 158.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, today voted to authorize the use of subpoena power to compel the Department of Justice to release Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report to Congress. The vote in the Judiciary Committee was 24 to 17.
House Democrats raised concerns Wednesday that President Donald Trump, newly emboldened after the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, could seek to pardon associates and allies entangled in the multiyear investigation.
In a House Judiciary Committee hearing with legal experts to examine the limits of the pardon power and a president's ability to pardon himself - scheduled before the end of the Muller probe - Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, said the "academic" discussion "has taken on greater importance" during Trump's presidency.
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) - Every vote counts.
This week saw yet another push from Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and some Democratic Presidential candidates to abolish the Electoral College.
While President Donald Trump is against the move, some states are trying to bypass Congress and the White House altogether.
Last election the candidate who got the popular vote, Hillary Clinton, did not win the White House.
Cohen says that doesn't make any sense and it's time for a change.
"The candidates should have to appeal for every state," Cohen said.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said Tuesday the Electoral College was "conceived in sin" and originally designed to effectively perpetuate slavery.
"The country is different than it was when the Constitution was drafted," Cohen said on CNN while issuing support for the push to move to a national popular vote for presidential elections.
Cohen criticized the Electoral College's origins, saying, "When the Constitution was drafted, a lot of it had to do with slavery."
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, today presided at a hearing on the history and enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
"The right to vote is the most fundamental right of citizenship in our democracy. Yet for most of our history African Americans were denied this most basic right, especially in the Deep South.