[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 149 (Tuesday, December 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H8871-H8872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Schiff) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, equal justice under the law--impartial and 
uniformly applied--has been, for more than two centuries, the 
ideological underpinning of American democracy.
  But from the very beginning, this noblest aspiration has been 
intertwined with our struggle with race, a battle that has sometimes 
come to define our Nation and to divide it in ways that too often 
cleave us still today.
  Mr. Speaker, 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation and half a 
century after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 formally ended Jim Crow, our 
President, his Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
and the National Security Adviser are all African American.
  Blacks are now prominent in every facet of American life. But much of 
this has occurred during my lifetime because people marched and sat and 
voted and demanded greater equality.
  Yet despite the progress, equal justice under law is not the reality 
for too many of our fellow citizens, and injustice continues to limit 
their lives and their livelihoods in ways that are difficult for many 
White Americans to comprehend.
  Inequality manifests itself at every rung of the criminal justice 
system, but its most deadly consequences are to be found in the 
encounters of young men of color with the police.
  I have seen the video of Eric Garner in New York and watched the 
tragedy in Ferguson in the aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown. 
The agony of those families and the anger of their communities have 
rightfully moved the Nation.
  Sadly, they are not alone. The deaths of Eric Garner and Michael 
Brown grabbed national headlines, but decades of strife between police 
and many poor and minority neighborhoods have resulted in an endemic 
mistrust of law enforcement there.
  One need only consider a phenomenon almost completely foreign to much 
of America, ``the talk.'' It is a ritual that plays out in Black and 
Brown households across our Nation every day as parents teach their 
young children about the special dangers they face from law 
enforcement.
  As a father, to hear that is heartbreaking. As someone who has long 
worked with and on behalf of law enforcement and who has deep respect 
for the bravery and integrity of so many who wear the uniform, it is a 
call to action.
  First, in the months since the Michael Brown shooting, I have pressed 
for greater deployment of body-worn cameras to police departments 
across the country, an idea that the President has now endorsed. 
Cameras are not a panacea, but they are a first step on a path to 
greater accountability and transparency.
  Second, since cameras alone will not bridge the chasm of mistrust 
between many communities of color and the police there to protect them, 
we must invest in 21st century police departments.
  Effective policing requires mutual respect between the public and the 
police and a renewed emphasis on community policing strategies. 
Diversifying police forces so that they are more reflective of the 
communities they patrol and improving the training of officers to 
reduce the likelihood of violent confrontations are essential. This 
cannot be accomplished overnight, however, and generations of injustice 
have left deep scars.
  So the third leg of any law enforcement reform agenda must be 
enhanced oversight by the Department of Justice, which has a long 
record of working with State and local police agencies to modernize and 
improve practices and behavior.
  Justice Department intervention, as in the recent release of a report 
detailing excessive use of force by Cleveland Police, can be 
instrumental in overcoming opposition to reform. And I know that 
Attorney General Holder's successor will make this a priority.
  We ask a lot from our police, who have a difficult and often 
dangerous job, and we grant them enormous power, including the right to 
take a life under certain circumstances. It is not only proper that we 
insist this power is used impartially and as a last resort. It is 
fundamental to a just society.

[[Page H8872]]

  In a 1951 speech to the New York Legal Aid Society, the great jurist 
Learned Hand challenged his audience: ``It is the daily, it is the 
small, it is the cumulative injuries of little people that we are here 
to protect. If we are able to keep our democracy, there must be one 
commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.''
  Mr. Speaker, 63 years later, on a street corner in the same city, 
Eric Garner hauntingly invoked Hand when he pleaded in vain: ``Every 
time you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops 
today. I'm minding my business, officer. I'm minding my business. 
Please just leave me alone.''
  Mr. Speaker, it must stop today.
  Mr. Speaker, equal justice under law--impartial and uniformly 
applied--has been for more than two centuries the ideological 
underlining of American democracy.
  But, from the beginning, this noblest aspiration has been intertwined 
with our struggle with race--a battle that has sometimes come to define 
our nation, and to divide it in ways that too often cleave us still 
today.
  One hundred fifty years since the Emancipation Proclamation and half 
a century after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 formally ended Jim Crow, 
our President, his Attorney General, Secretary of Homeland Security and 
National Security Advisor are all African-American.
  Blacks are now prominent in every facet of American life. And much of 
this has occurred during my lifetime, because people marched and sat, 
and voted and demanded greater equality.
  But, despite the progress, equal justice under law is not the reality 
for too many of our fellow citizens and injustice continues to limit 
their lives and their livelihoods in ways that are difficult for white 
Americans to comprehend.
  Inequality manifests itself at every rung of the criminal justice 
system, but its most deadly consequences are to be found in the 
encounters of young men of color with the police.
  I have seen the video of the Eric Garner incident in New York and 
watched the tragedy in Ferguson in the aftermath of the shooting of 
Michael Brown. The agony of their families and the anger of their 
communities have rightfully moved the nation.
  Sadly, they are not alone.
  The deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown grabbed national 
headlines, but decades of strife between police and many poor and 
minority neighborhoods have resulted in an endemic mistrust of law 
enforcement there.
  One need only consider a phenomenon almost completely foreign to much 
of America--``the talk.''
  It is a ritual that plays out in black and brown households across 
our nation every day--as parents teach their young children about the 
special dangers they face from law enforcement.
  Even the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, said last week that he 
and his wife had to prepare their son--``as families have all over this 
city for decades--how to take special care in any encounter he has with 
police officers.''
  As a father, to hear that is heartbreaking. As someone who has long 
worked with and on behalf of law enforcement, and who has deep respect 
for the bravery and integrity of so many who wear the uniform, it's a 
call to action.
  First, in the months since the Michael Brown shooting, I have pressed 
for greater deployment of body-worn cameras to police departments 
across the country, an idea that the President has now endorsed. 
Cameras are not a panacea, but they are a first step on a path to 
greater accountability and transparency.
  Second, since cameras alone will not bridge the chasm of mistrust 
between many communities of color and the police there to protect them; 
we must invest in 21st Century police departments.
  Effective policing requires mutual respect between the public and the 
police, and a renewed emphasis on community policing strategies. 
Diversifying police forces so that they are more reflective of the 
communities they patrol and improving the training of officers to 
reduce the likelihood of violent confrontations are essential. This 
cannot be accomplished overnight, however, and generations of injustice 
have left deep scars.
  So the third leg of any law enforcement reform agenda must be 
enhanced oversight by the Department of Justice, which has a long 
record of working with state and local police agencies to modernize and 
improve practices and behavior.
  Justice Department intervention, as in the recent release of a report 
detailing excessive use of force by Cleveland police, can be 
instrumental in overcoming opposition to reform, and I know that 
Attorney General Holder's successor will make this a priority.
  We ask a lot from our police who have a difficult and often dangerous 
job, and we grant them enormous power, including the right to take a 
life under certain circumstances. It is not only proper that we insist 
this power is used impartially and as a last resort, it is fundamental 
to a just society.
  In a 1951 speech to the New York Legal Aid Society, the great jurist 
Learned Hand challenged his audience, ``It is the daily; it is the 
small; it is the cumulative injuries of little people that we are here 
to protect. . . . If we are able to keep our democracy, there must be 
one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.''
  Sixty-three years later, on a street corner in the same city, Eric 
Garner hauntingly invoked Hand when he pleaded in vain: ``Every time 
you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops today. 
. . . I'm minding my business, officer. I'm minding my business. Please 
just leave me alone.''
  Mr. Speaker, it must stop today.

                          ____________________