[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E55]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   IN RECOGNITION OF HEATHER SAWYER AND HER SERVICE TO THE HOUSE OF 
                            REPRESENTATIVES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 12, 2017

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I, along with Representative Jerrold Nadler 
of New York, Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, and 
Representative Janice D. Schakowsky of Illinois, would like to thank 
Heather Sawyer for a decade of service to the House of Representatives. 
Heather Sawyer is a brilliant legal mind and incredible litigator. Her 
calm, clear-eyed professionalism has been instrumental in protecting 
the rights of marginalized Americans, including Americans with 
disabilities, the LGBTQ community, people of color, and women. As a 
senior and trusted counsel, she helped to roll back the worst civil 
rights abuses of the post-9/11 era.
   Heather left the Georgetown Law Center to join the staff of the 
House Committee on the Judiciary in 2007. She was instrumental in 
working to pass the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act to 
ensure that Americans with disabilities have the same protections as 
every other American. During her tenure on the Committee, she worked 
with Congressman Nadler to draft the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, 
which built upon the ADA framework to protect pregnant women who need 
simple accommodations to stay in the workplace throughout their 
pregnancies.
   Perhaps her most indelible legacy on the Judiciary Committee was her 
work on marriage equality. Heather worked with Congressman Nadler to 
draft and introduce the Respect for Marriage Act to overturn DOMA. She 
also helped draft the congressional amicus brief in the Windsor and 
Obergefell cases, the two landmark Supreme Court cases that paved the 
way for marriage equality in the United States.
   Heather has always been a true champion of women's rights. For the 
last year, Heather has served as the Staff Director and General Counsel 
for the Select Investigative Panel, where she worked tirelessly to 
protect the rights of women, health care providers, and researchers. 
She navigated the Panel through a difficult and polarized 
investigation, and astutely defended the facts and the truth. Heather's 
command of House procedures and rules helped to ensure that the views 
of the Democratic Members were represented at every step, and she was 
instrumental in the Panel's ultimate findings and report. She 
vigorously fought on behalf of women's right to access reproductive 
health care services, and her brilliant legal analysis and oversight 
acumen were invaluable to the Panel.
   Heather has never been afraid to go head to head with those who 
would threaten the rights enshrined in our Constitution. During the 
Bush Administration, Heather worked to expose illegal interrogation 
tactics and other human rights abuses. She helped Congressman Nadler 
write the State Secrets Protection Act and legislation to protect the 
privacy of electronic communications.
   Heather is a bright, strategic, and immensely skilled attorney who 
has never faced a challenge she could not meet. She dedicated more than 
two years of her public service as the Chief Counsel for the Select 
Committee on Benghazi. In that role, she fought to defend the truth, 
expose procedural excesses, and to provide serious and substantive 
recommendations to improve the safety and security of Americans serving 
our country overseas. The Members she has served, the staff who have 
worked beside her, and the institution as a whole are better because of 
Heather.
   On the most sensitive issues of the day, Heather worked side by side 
with Members of the Judiciary Committee to ensure that the government 
adhered to the Constitution and respected the basic human and legal 
rights of all people. Running through all of this work is Heather's 
uncompromising sense of justice. She simply will not shy away from a 
fight. Whether it was fighting against torture and the use of secret 
evidence, partisan attacks against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 
on the Benghazi investigation, or anti-choice partisans who tried to 
intimidate doctors working on women's health issues.
   Heather is a true champion of civil rights and civil liberties and 
of the Constitution itself and it was truly an honor to work by her 
side for these many years. We wish her all the best in her future 
endeavors.

                          ____________________