russ feingold

A group of 10 Democratic senators today reintroduced legislation designed to end the sentencing disparity between powder and crack cocaine — a long-standing push that never quite seems to get enacted.
In a statement, the lawmakers cite the reasoning behind the proposal.
Under current law, possession of five grams of crack cocaine (roughly the weight of two [...]

I’ve been tracking the progress of Rep. Jack Kingston’s (R-Ga.) Czar Accountability and Reform (CZAR) Act of 2009, the legislation that would kill the salaries of Obama appointees not confirmed by the Senate. As of today, Kingston has found 116 co-sponsors, including Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the party’s whip, and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), the [...]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was none too pleased with The New York Times this morning. At the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup session of the Patriot Act Sunset Extension Act, which would extend several provisions of the controversial law with only minor modifications, she went out of her way to read portions of the Times’ editorial [...]

Kate Phillips has all you need to know about yesterday’s hearing on the “constitutionality of czars,” called by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) and taking the form of a friendly dialogue between him, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and some witnesses. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) also appeared, asking questions that were more skeptical of the “czar” panic [...]

Greg Sargent has the letter from White House Counsel Greg Craig to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), answering some of the worries he and other senators have expressed about the high-level administration officials appointed without the advise and consent of the Senate. Sargent sums up Craig’s points, which should really be embarrassing for the Republicans, like [...]

I reported last week on Sen. Russ Feingold’s (D-Wis.) Constitution subcommittee hearing on “czars.” The subcommittee has released its witness list:
T.J. Halstead, deputy assistant director of the Congressional Research Service’s American Law Division
John Harrison, University of Virginia School of Law
Bradley Patterson Jr., author of “To Serve the President”
Tuan Samahon, Villanova University School of Law
Matthew Spalding, [...]

It’s only been a few hours since the Senate Finance Committee killed two separate proposals to create a public insurance plan as part of the year’s health reforms. But some Democrats are already vowing to take up the fight again when the bill hits the Senate floor. Here’s the newly released statement from Sen. Russ [...]

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), one of two Democrats who’s expressed worry about the president’s use of advisers who haven’t been approved by the Senate, has scheduled Constitution subcommittee hearings on the matter.
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution has scheduled a hearing on “Examining the History and Legality of Executive Branch ‘Czars’” [...]

Ed Brayton at ScienceBlogs (and also of our sister site, The Michigan Messenger) has a thorough analysis of the Obama administration’s new state secrets policy, which I wrote about yesterday.
Ed sums it up: “All of the changes are to the process by which the administration will determine when to invoke the SSP [State Secrets [...]

Although the Obama administration’s much-anticipated new policy on the use of the so-called “state secrets” privilege, announced this morning, has drawn some praise, civil liberties lawyers and other critics of the use of the privilege don’t think it solves the problem.