[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 133 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11386-S11387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SECURE ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND COURT PROTECTION ACT OF 2005

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1751 and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 1751) to amend title 18, United States Code, 
     to protect judges, prosecutors, witnesses, victims, and their 
     family members, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it has been a difficult struggle to pass a 
measure to improve court security. It should not have been. This bill 
should have been enacted months ago with bipartisan support. I thank 
the Democratic leader, Senator Reid, the Senate Judiciary chairman, 
Senator Specter, and the assistant Democratic leader, Senator Durbin, 
for their leadership and hard work in finally passing the Court 
Security improvement Act of 2006, to increase protections for the 
dedicated women and men throughout the Judiciary in this country.
  I hope the House of Representatives will take up and pass this 
measure. By so doing, they can bring to fruition before the end of this 
Congress our efforts to provide increased security, an effort that 
gained new urgency after the tragedy that befell Judge Joan Lefkow of 
Chicago. She is the Federal judge whose mother and husband were 
murdered in their home. As we heard in her courageous testimony in May 
2005 before the Judiciary Committee, this tragedy provided a terrible 
reminder not only of the vulnerable position of our judges and their 
families, but of the critical importance of protecting judges both 
where they work and where they and their families live. The shooting 
last summer of a State judge in Nevada provided another terrible 
reminder of the vulnerable position of our Nation's State and Federal 
judges. We cannot tolerate or excuse or justify violence or the threat 
of violence against judges.
  It is most unfortunate that some in this country have chosen to use 
dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric when talking about judges, 
comparing judges to terrorists and threatening judges with punishment 
for decisions they do not like. This rhetoric can only foster 
unacceptable violence against judges and it must stop, for the sake of 
our judges and the independence of the judiciary. Judicial fairness and 
independence are essential if we are to maintain our freedoms. Let no 
one say things that might bring about further threats against our 
judges. We ought to be protecting them physically and institutionally. 
Easy rhetorical pot shots put judges in real danger.
  The bill that passes today is a consensus, bipartisan bill. I hope it 
is a model for what we can achieve with bipartisan cooperation in the 
110th Congress. Its core provisions, which previously passed the Senate 
in June as part of the managers' package of the John Warner National 
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, S. 2766, come from S. 
1968, the streamlined Court Security Improvement Act of 2005, CSIA, 
which Chairman Specter and I introduced last November.
  The bill responds to requests by the Federal judiciary for a greater 
voice in working with the United States Marshals Service to determine 
their security needs. It enacts new criminal penalties for the misuse 
of restricted personal information to harm or threaten to harm Federal 
judges, their families or other individuals performing official duties. 
It enacts criminal penalties for threatening Federal judges and Federal 
law enforcement officials by the malicious filing of false liens, and 
provides increased protections for witnesses. The bill also contains 
provisions making available to states new resources to improve security 
for State and local court systems as well as providing additional 
protections for law enforcement officers. In particular, I thank 
Chairman Specter for agreeing to include in the bill an extension of 
life insurance benefits to bankruptcy, magistrate and territorial 
judges.
  Finally, the bill contains provisions that have passed the Senate 
several

[[Page S11387]]

times extending and expanding to family members the authority of the 
Judicial Conference to redact certain information from a Federal 
judge's mandatory financial disclosure. This expired redaction 
authority was used in circumstances in which the release of the 
information could endanger the filer or the filer's family. I hope that 
the House of Representatives finally takes up and passes this much 
needed extension and expansion of redaction authority.
  We owe it to our judges to better protect them and their families 
from violence and to ensure they have the peace of mind necessary to do 
their vital and difficult jobs.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Specter 
substitute amendment that is at the desk be agreed to; that the bill, 
as amended, be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 5217) was agreed to.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time. The bill (H.R. 1751), as amended, was read the third time 
and passed.

                          ____________________