[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE PRIVILEGE OF SERVING IN THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is always an honor for me to 
stand here in the well of the House to know that I am one of less than 
450 people in the world who have been accorded the preeminent privilege 
of standing in the well of the Congress of the United States of 
America.

                              {time}  1045

  It is an honor to stand here at this podium with a rostrum behind me 
with the word ``Justice'' etched in it. Right behind me, ``Justice'' is 
etched into the rostrum. You can't see it at home because it is low, 
and it is beneath the view of the camera.
  Today, I want to talk about justice, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk 
about justice and the Justice Department. I do this, Mr. Speaker, 
because we have a President-elect who has said he will be a law and 
order President. I want to make a distinction between law and order and 
justice, and I want to attribute this to the Justice Department versus 
a law and order department.
  Mr. Speaker, you can have law and order in a dungeon, but you won't 
have justice. There is law and order in North Korea, but you don't have 
justice. Justice, Mr. Speaker, is what this Department is all about. It 
is not the law and order department. One of the best ways to explain it 
is to harken back to something that was called to our attention 
yesterday at the hearing for the nominee to become the head of the 
Justice Department.
  When the Honorable John Lewis spoke, he went back to 1965, and the 
crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. On that day, George Wallace--one 
of the great segregationists of his time and, perhaps, the greatest 
segregationist of his time--had made it perspicuously clear to his 
troops that, if you maintain order, there will be law to protect you. 
As a result, those troops beat the marches all the way back to the 
church where they started. They were peaceful protesters. The Honorable 
John Lewis said he thought he might die. That is what law and order 
meant to a good many people in the South.
  Law and order without justice is what took place on that day; but 
thank God there was a judge, the Honorable Frank M. Johnson. The 
Honorable Frank M. Johnson issued the order to allow those marches to 
move from Selma to Montgomery, and he did it notwithstanding his 
classmate George Wallace having said that they were banned from doing 
it. This was justice, not law and order alone. This is our fear--that 
the Justice Department will go back to the hands of someone who may 
consider it a law and order department and a department in which there 
is a belief that you can do anything to maintain the order and that 
there will be law to support your actions and activities.
  Mr. Speaker, we must protect the notion of justice for all people in 
this country. This is why I was there yesterday to lend my support to 
Senator Booker when he spoke about justice and when he indicated that 
he could not support the nominee. I was honored to be there, seated 
right near the Honorable John Lewis when he said he could not support 
the nominee. I was also honored to be there with the head of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, Cedric Richmond, when he indicated: If this 
nominee is a civil rights advocate, why is the civil rights community 
so opposed to him? I think those were some very sage comments.
  I must tell you that we in this country have come too far to allow 
the Justice Department to become the law and order department.

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