[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 148 (Monday, December 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6373-S6374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               PROFILING

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, this week I received several requests from 
international advocate groups to speak out against the injustice that 
is taking place in other countries with regard to their judicial 
system. It is not unusual to get a request in the United States to 
speak out on those matters.
  Journalists are in prison solely because they were doing 
investigative journalism, human rights activists are in prison just 
because they felt it was necessary to speak out about the injustice in 
their society, and there are people who have been arrested, harassed or 
tortured because they disagree with the government and the judicial 
system of that country is unable to deal with those types of issues.
  They understand that one of America's core values is fairness, 
inclusion, and equal justice under the law; however, recent events have 
shown that in the United States we are not where we need to be in 
regard to our judicial system, and we must do more.
  Shortly after the tragic death of Trayvon Martin--an unarmed youth 
killed by an auxiliary police personnel--I convened a group of 
activists in Baltimore to try and understand what is happening in our 
community.
  I must say that what I observed and learned during that discussion 
was something that should be very informative to all of us. It was an 
African-American audience, and they explained to me that if you have a 
teenaged son in the African-American community, you have to talk to 
that son about what they need to do in regard to their potential 
confrontation with police.
  It was chilling for me to try to understand the fear that is in our 
community as to how they have to deal with law enforcement. Law 
enforcement should be on your side. Yet it sort of ripped me apart to 
understand how widespread the concern is in minority communities and 
the widespread number of victims of racial profiling in minority 
communities. So many families had an example.
  There was one young woman who was there, and she told me when she was 
a young girl she was going to the arena to see a basketball game with 
her father. Her father was pulled over for no reason other than the 
color of his skin. He was pulled aside and unable to proceed to the 
basketball game. It had a huge impact on this young girl at the time 
and made her think: Is this America? Are these core values we believe 
in? Is this equal justice under the law?
  One of the victims of racial profiling was a young lawyer who was 
returning home from a funeral he attended. He was stopped by the 
Maryland State Police solely because of the color of his skin--no other 
reason. He decided to do something about it. He brought a legal suit 
against the Maryland State Police Department--Wilkins v. State of 
Maryland. As a result of that lawsuit, a consent order was entered into 
where the Maryland State Police committed to stop racial profiling. 
There were certain practices that had to be established, certain checks 
that had to be done, certain data that had to be provided, and I 
believe it became the model example of what law enforcement needs to do 
to ensure it is not using racial profiling.
  I mentioned that case because Robert Wilkins, the young lawyer who 
brought that case, has been confirmed by the Senate and now sits on the 
DC Court of Appeals--one of the confirmations we were able to complete 
in this term of Congress. He is an excellent member of the Court of 
Appeals for the District.
  We get constant reminders of the problems we have in our criminal 
justice system; for example, the tragic death of Michael Brown in 
Ferguson, MO. I am a strong supporter of the independence of our 
judicial branch of government and the grand jury system, but I think 
all of us understand the frustration when there were no criminal 
indictments brought in the Trayvon Martin case, the Michael Brown case, 
and in the most recent case with Eric Garner. He was the unarmed 
individual who was choked to death in New York.
  Unfortunately, there are many more examples where the criminal 
justice system does not appear to work for equal justice for all.
  In Oakland, CA, the NAACP reported that out of the 45 officers 
involved in

[[Page S6374]]

shootings in the city between 2004 and 2008, 37 of those shot were 
Black, none were White, one-third of the shootings resulted in 
fatalities, and although weapons were not found in 40 percent of the 
cases, no officers were charged. No wonder people are losing confidence 
that we truly do have a system where all of our citizens are treated 
equally under the law.
  I have to point out that the Department of Justice is investigating 
the circumstances in the Ferguson and Michael Brown case. We will have 
to wait and see what happens with the Federal investigation, but the 
initial suspicions in many of these cases were solely because of the 
color of a person's skin, and that is why the individuals were stopped. 
They were not stopped because they were observed in criminal activities 
or because they had specific information about a crime that fit the 
description of the individual who was stopped. That is profiling and 
profiling is wrong.
  Profiling is when the police target an individual, start an 
investigation, and do something because of race, religion or national 
origin. That is wrong. It does not work. If you have specific 
information about a crime, obviously you can use identifiers to deal 
with the investigation, and that is appropriate. But if you don't have 
specific information, then it is profiling, and profiling is just plain 
wrong. It is un-American. It is not what we believe in. It is not in 
our core values. It is a waste of resources because it doesn't help 
solve a problem. It turns communities against law enforcement, and we 
need communities working with law enforcement if we are going to have 
the most efficient law enforcement. As we have seen too frequently in 
recent years in the United States, it can be deadly. Profiling must 
end.

  The Attorney General issued some guidance on profiling today. There 
were some things in there that I found helpful. For the first time the 
Justice Department guidelines will cover new categories, such as 
national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, and sexual 
orientation, while closing certain loopholes and narrowing some 
exemptions.
  The guide mandates new data collection which makes it easier to track 
profiling complaints. It is all positive. For the first time we have 
specific guidelines against profiling, but it only applies to the 
Federal agencies. We need to act because only we can make it apply not 
just at the Federal level but at the State and local auxiliaries. We 
can close all loopholes so we do not allow profiling to take place in 
America, as we should, and we can give a private right of action so we 
can have enforcement of the laws that we pass. That is what we should 
do.
  I have introduced legislation that does exactly that--The End Racial 
Profiling Act, S. 1038. I am proud to have as cosponsors Senators Reid, 
Durbin, Blumenthal, Coons, Harkin, Menendez, Stabenow, Levin, Mikulski, 
Warren, Boxer Gillibrand, Hirono, Wyden, Murphy, and Whitehouse.
  I am proud to say that in the House of Representatives the lead 
sponsor is John Conyers, who has been an iconic figure in the fight for 
civil rights, H.R. 2851. There are 59 cosponsors on the House bill.
  The legislation we authored would provide training and mentoring for 
police departments so they have what they need. It prohibits all forms 
of profiling. It provides for data collection. It provides grants to 
develop best practices. It has broad support, including the support of 
the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, ACLU, NAACP, and 
the Rights Working Group.
  America is a beacon of hope for people all around the world. They 
embrace our core values because they know what America stands for. It 
stands for every one of us being treated fairly under our laws. I am 
proud of our values, and I am proud of what we have been able to 
accomplish as a nation where we can enjoy religious freedom, where 
people can speak out however they want to about their government.
  Let us take care of business first at home and recognize that we are 
not where we need to be. Recent events where people have lost their 
lives show how our system is not working and needs to be corrected. One 
thing we can do is pass the End Racial Profiling Act. As Senator 
Kennedy said, civil rights is the great unfinished business of America. 
We can end profiling by passing legislation.
  I encourage my colleagues to work with me so we can end profiling and 
move one step closer to equal justice under the law for all Americans.
  With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________