[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 680 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 680

Calling upon President Obama to retract his initial public remarks and 
apologize to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Sergeant James M. Crowley 
for having unfairly impugned and prejudged his professional conduct in 
                  this local police response incident.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2009

Mr. McCotter (for himself, Mr. King of New York, and Mr. King of Iowa) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                            on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling upon President Obama to retract his initial public remarks and 
apologize to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Sergeant James M. Crowley 
for having unfairly impugned and prejudged his professional conduct in 
                  this local police response incident.

Whereas, on July 16, 2009, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Sergeant James M. 
        Crowley responded to a 911 call from a neighbor of Harvard University 
        Professor Henry Louis (``Skip'') Gates, Jr. about a suspected break-in 
        in progress at his residence, which had been broken into on a prior 
        occasion;
Whereas, on July 22, 2009, in responding to a question during a White House 
        press conference President Barack Obama stated ``Skip Gates is a friend, 
        so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all of the facts'' 
        involved in this local police response incident;
Whereas President Obama proceeded to state Sergeant Crowley ``acted stupidly'' 
        for arresting Professor Gates on charges of disorderly conduct;
Whereas, as a former Constitutional Law Professor, President Obama well 
        understands that all Americans are innocent until proven guilty in a 
        court of law, and their actions should not be prejudged prior to being 
        fully and fairly judged by an appropriate and objective authority after 
        due process;
Whereas President Obama's nationally televised remarks may likely detrimentally 
        influence the full and fair judgment by an appropriate and objective 
        authority after due process regarding this local police response 
        incident and, thereby, impair Sergeant Crowley's legal and professional 
        standing in relation to said incident;
Whereas President Obama appeared at a daily White House Press briefing on July 
        24, 2009, to address his denouncement of Sergeant Crowley and stated ``I 
        could have calibrated those words differently'' but ``I continue to 
        believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in 
        pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station.''; and
Whereas President Obama refused to retract his initial public remarks and 
        apologize to Sergeant Crowley and, instead, reiterated his accusation 
        impugning Sergeant Crowley's professional conduct in the performance of 
        his duties: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives calls upon President 
Obama to retract his initial public remarks and apologize to Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, Police Sergeant James M. Crowley for having unfairly 
impugned and prejudged his professional conduct in this local police 
response incident.
                                 <all>