Press Room
Press Releases
Search Senator Leahy’s press releases, floor statements, and Committee speeches by date or by subject.
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, On the Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
Today is the 62nd anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which reaffirmed our Nation's commitment to justice and equality by ending racial segregation in our public schools. The unanimous Court overruled one of its worst precedents in Plessy v. Ferguson and held that "in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." For generations the Brown v. Board deci… Continue Reading
05.17.16
Senate Judiciary Dems To Meet THIS WEEK To Discuss Chief Judge Garland’s Qualifications To Serve On The Supreme Court
(Monday, May 16, 2016) - While Senate Republicans continue their unprecedented obstruction of granting Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a hearing and a vote, Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats will meet this week for a public meeting to hear from some of those who know the nominee personally and can speak to his lengthy public service career. During the meeting, on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. in Dirksen 562, Senators will ask invited speakers who know Garland about his qualifications to serv… Continue Reading
05.16.16
Senate Republicans Allow Confirmation Vote On Single Judicial Nominee While Holding Up Dozens More
(Monday, May 16, 2016) - While Senate Republicans finally allowed a vote on the nomination of Paula Xinis to fill a judicial emergency vacancy in Maryland, dozens of judicial nominees-including a Supreme Court nominee-are being held up due to partisan obstruction. As a result, Americans are finding it more difficult to seek justice in our courts, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said Monday. "Because of Republican obstruction, our independent judiciary is struggl… Continue Reading
05.16.16
Continuing The String Of Bipartisan Wins Under Leahy’s M.O. Of Building Coalitions, President Today Signs Leahy-Authored Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program
Continuing The String Of Bipartisan Wins Under Leahy's M.O. Of Building Coalitions, President Today Signs Leahy-Authored Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program WASHINGTON (MONDAY, May 16, 2016) - At a White House ceremony awarding 13 law enforcement officers the Medal of Valor, the nation's highest honor for law enforcement officers, President Obama Monday announced he has signed Senator Patrick Leahy's (D-Vt.) legislation reauthorizing his lifesaving Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Prog… Continue Reading
05.16.16
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, On The Supreme Court’s Decisions In Zubik v. Burwell and Spokeo v. Robbins
[On Monday, the eight justices of the Supreme Court were unable to come to a final decision on the merits in two separate cases. In Zubik v. Burwell, involving an administrative accommodation to the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act for religiously affiliated nonprofits, the Court remanded the case to the lower courts for further consideration, explicitly expressing "no view on the merits of the cases." In Spokeo v. Robbins, the Court failed to reach the key question in the case… Continue Reading
05.12.16
Judiciary Committee Approves Leahy-Authored Bills To Improve Criminal Justice System, Support Police In Active Shooter Situations
(THURSDAY, May 12, 2016) - The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved two bipartisan bills coauthored by Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to support law enforcement and improve the criminal justice system. The panel's action comes just two days after the House of Representatives approved another Leahy bill to reauthorize his Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program another five years. The POLICE Act approved by the Judiciary Committee Thursday is bipartisan legislation that allows… Continue Reading
05.12.16
A Key Win Thursday As Leahy Leads Fight To Preserve Investment Incentive Program for NEK, Franklin, Lamoille Counties
(THURSDAY, May 12, 2016) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday applauded the Senate's action to advance a key spending bill that provides critical funding for the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC), a program that has delivered more than $2.8 million in federal grants to Vermont's Northeast Kingdom and $3.4 million in total to Vermont. With Leahy's leadership earlier in the debate, the Senate blocked a move by a Republican senator to strike all funding for the program and others like… Continue Reading
05.11.16
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, On The Need To Schedule A Confirmation Hearing For Chief Judge Merrick Garland, Nominee To Be Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States
"Today Chairman Grassley noticed a confirmation hearing for judicial nominations to take place in the Judiciary Committee next week. Missing from the list of nominees called to testify is Chief Judge Garland, who this week submitted to the Committee an updated questionnaire for his nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States. That was an important next step in the confirmation process. Despite the Republicans' obstruction up to this point, there is more than enough time for Senators … Continue Reading
05.11.16
Capping Years Of Work To Overcome Congressional Obstruction, Leahy’s Bill To Renew His Lifesaving Bulletproof Vest Grant Program Passes House; President Will Sign It
(WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016) - The long-expired Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is finally being extended after years of delay. The House passed the bill Tuesday night, months after the Senate passed it last year. On Tuesday night the House of Representatives unanimously approved Leahy's bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the matching grant program, which has issued more than 1.2 million lifesaving vests to state and local law enforcement o… Continue Reading
05.10.16
Senate Republicans Have Not Confirmed A Single Judicial Nominee In Over A Month
(Tuesday, May 10, 2016) - Senate Republicans, who are refusing to hold a hearing and a vote for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, once again blocked from confirmation 11 federal district court nominees who would fill vacancies in courts throughout the country. Partisan obstruction of the federal judiciary has led to an increase in judicial vacancies, which today stand at 81-sharply up from 43 when Republicans took control of the Senate last year. To address this looming vacancy crisis, S… Continue Reading
05.10.16
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, On The Questionnaire Submitted by Chief Judge Merrick Garland, Nominee To Be Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States
"Chief Judge Garland has provided the Senate Judiciary Committee an updated questionnaire. He has done his part, and now it is time for the Senate Judiciary Committee to do its job by promptly reviewing the nominee's record and scheduling a public confirmation hearing. I and my staff have begun reviewing Chief Judge Garland's materials, and I expect Committee Republicans to do the same. "A nominee to the highest court in the land deserves a full, fair, and public hearing, as the Senate has d… Continue Reading
05.10.16
Ahead of Expiration, Leahy Calls For Reforms to FISA Amendments Act
(Tuesday, May 10, 2016) -The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the FISA Amendments Act (FAA). Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has long worked to add greater transparency and oversight to the surveillance authorities under the FAA, and he included transparency reforms in the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act that was signed into law last year. Member statements, witness testimony, and a webcast of today's hearing are available online. Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), … Continue Reading
05.06.16
Leahy, Sanders, Welch And Shumlin Welcome U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx To Vermont
As Major Grant Goes Forward To Improve Rail Service Across Vermont's Western Corridor BURLINGTON, Vt. (FRIDAY, May 6, 2016) - U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Representative Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Governor Peter Shumlin Friday gathered in front of Union Station in Burlington to celebrate progress made to restore passenger rail service to the iconic stop by Lake Champlain and improve freight service a… Continue Reading
05.02.16
Today In Burlington, Leahy And Booker Host Discussion On Criminal Justice Reform
BURLINGTON, Vt. (MONDAY, May 2, 2016) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday was joined by Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in Burlington to host a roundtable discussion on their efforts to pass criminal justice reform. Leahy and Booker are at the core of a bipartisan movement on Capitol Hill to forge and enact long-overdue reforms of the criminal justice system. Their efforts led in part to the announcement last week of new cosponsors to the bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which… Continue Reading
05.02.16
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT A Conversation on Criminal Justice Reform: New Approaches for Vermont and the Nation
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today for this important conversation. I am proud to welcome my friend Senator Booker here to discuss criminal justice reform and to hear about what is working right here in Vermont. Thanks also to our panelists and guests. Many of you labor every day to strengthen our communities, lessen our reliance on jails, and support those who are reentering society. Criminal justice reform is not a new conversation in Vermont. We are marking the 20th anniversa… Continue Reading
05.01.16
Remarks of Mrs. Marcelle Leahy At Lund’s 125th Birthday Bash Waterworks, Winooski, Vermont
Good evening. Patrick and I are delighted to be here with you all tonight. I am honored and proud to serve as the Honorary Chair for this celebration of the 125 years of help and support Lund has given to women, children, and families across Vermont. One hundred and twenty-five years. Lund has been helping Vermont families longer than any of us in this room have had the honor of supporting it. The original founders of the Home for Friendless Women - including Elizabeth Lund, by whose name we … Continue Reading
04.28.16
Leahy Urges Senate Republicans To Pass Bipartisan Criminal Justice Legislation This Year
(THURSDAY, April 28, 2016) - Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a former prosecutor, on Thursday called on Senate Republican leaders to bring to the floor the bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a bill to reduce some mandatory minimum sentences and apply those changes retroactively to inmates currently serving unfair sentences. Leahy's comments came at a bipartisan news conference announcing new cosponsors of the legislation, which was introduced last… Continue Reading
04.28.16
Lyndon Institute
Senator Leahy conducted an online chat with 11th and 12th graders from the Lyndon Institute of the Northeast Kingdom. He was impressed with the students' breadth of knowledge, and appreciates their drive to become further involved in their government, especially through voting. The Senator also enjoyed discussing what led him to become a lawyer, and about the ways in which conversations with Vermonters have inspired him to draft legislation.… Continue Reading
04.27.16
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) On House Passage of the Bipartisan Email Privacy Act April 27, 2016
"Today's 419-0 House vote for the Email Privacy Act is an historic step toward updating our privacy laws for the digital age. It should go without saying that law enforcement agents should have to get a warrant to read Americans' emails or retrieve their sensitive information from the cloud - yet that is not what our statutes currently require. It is long past time to reassure the American people that their online communications are protected from warrantless searches. The Email Privacy Act d… Continue Reading
04.27.16
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, On Judicial Nominations
Yesterday I had the honor of speaking at an event hosted by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate on this body's role in considering Supreme Court nominees. The Institute is a wonderful organization "dedicated to educating the public about the important role of the Senate in our government." My friend Ted Kennedy loved the Senate and worked hard every day here to improve the lives of the people of Massachusetts and the people of America. I thank Vicki Kennedy for all of… Continue Reading
