Judiciary
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today joined Rev. Jesse Jackson, other Civil Rights leaders and members of Congress to stand up for voting rights at the U.S. Capitol and to draw attention to recent restrictive voting measures that will strip citizens of their constitutional right to vote, including in Tennessee.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today reintroduced legislation -- the Fresh Start Act -- he authored to enable non-violent federal offenders who have served their sentence and are now law-abiding, productive members of society to have their conviction expunged from their records.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today praised the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice for pursuing justice in the Mickey Wright case on a hate crime statute. Mickey Wright -- a Shelby County Code Enforcement Inspector -- was killed and transported to Mississippi where he was dismembered and burned in 2001. This was the first time a federal hate crime was successfully prosecuted in Tennessee.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today introduced legislation – the Fair Debt Collection Improvement Act -- that would bar debt collectors from bringing legal action on a debt in which the statute of limitations has expired against any consumer.
Washington, D.C. -- House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Representative Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) today introduced legislation to protect consumers from unfair taxes on digital goods, like those purchased over the Internet or on a smartphone. The Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act of 2011 (H.R. 1860) ensures that digital goods are not taxed at a higher rate than their tangible counterparts. For example, H.R.
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today reintroduced legislation to examine the causes of racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system and develop proposals for reducing or eliminating unjustified disparities wherever they are found.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today offered an amendment to the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2011 – a medical malpractice reform initiative – at a House Judiciary Committee markup. The Cohen amendment would remove the $250,000 cap on punitive damages for wrong-site, wrong-side, and wrong-patient procedures, and when a foreign object is left inside the patient. This markup was a continuation of a markup that began last week.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today reintroduced Jane’s Law, a bipartisan measure that was crafted to close a legal loophole that enables people to avoid paying court-ordered property distributions by crossing state lines. The measure was named after Jane Maharam, who has been fighting since 1983 to force her ex-husband to return her assets and obey court orders.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today introduced legislation he authored to provide school personnel – principals, teachers, counselors and other student support staff -- with training that would give them the skills they need to help reduce youth incarceration.
WASHINGTON D.C. – This week Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) was appointed to the House Judiciary Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He will serve as ranking member on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law. He previously chaired this subcommittee in the 111th Congress