WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered an opening statement at a bicameral spotlight forum entitled “Defending the Rights of the People: States and Congressional Allies Fight Back Against Trump's Constitutional Abuses,” with a panel of Democratic state Attorneys General who are combatting the Trump Administration’s egregious and unlawful actions through litigation. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08) is leading the forum with Durbin.
Key quotes:
“Our country is currently facing several catastrophic challenges that the Trump Administration is ignoring or exacerbating in favor of fomenting a domestic political crisis through their lawless and cruel directives—and unfortunately, Congressional Republicans have been willing to ignore.”
“The last two weeks alone have tragically illustrated this. President Trump ordered an unprecedented deployment of the U.S. military in Los Angeles and federal agents shoved and handcuffed our colleague, Senator Padilla, while he was trying to get answers for these abuses. Days later, a horrific political assassination occurred in Minnesota... But instead of focusing on the problem at hand, our Republican counterparts are insulating the Administration from scrutiny.”
“This lack of oversight and accountability would not stand when I was Chair of the Committee on this side. I constantly fought for agency oversight and accountability from a Democratic administration. To take just a few examples of issues that we should be addressing at the moment: The Trump Administration has removed dozens of senior officials with decades of national security experience and placed a 22-year-old recent college graduate with no threat prevention experience in charge of our primary terrorism prevention center… The Justice and Homeland Security Departments have diverted thousands of law enforcement agents away from combating drug trafficking, terrorism, violent crimes against children, cybercrimes, and gun violence to participate in a mass deportation campaign.”
“In addition to the Administration openly violating and denouncing the rule of law, President Trump and his allies have also persisted in lodging unprecedented and unacceptable attacks on the federal judiciary. In one particularly egregious example on Memorial Day, the President referred to members of the bench as ‘USA hating judges’ and ‘monsters who want our country to go to hell.’”
“The lawlessness of this Administration is having damaging effects on the rights, liberties, and pocketbooks of everybody. And in this disturbing environment, many Americans have no greater ally than their states’ Attorneys General, who are engaged in multi-pronged efforts to protect the Constitution, the public interest, and hold the federal government to account. They are protecting the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship, challenging unlawful detention procedures, and fighting the Administration’s refusal to disperse funds appropriated by Congress.”
“I appreciate the work that state Attorneys General have done to defend our constituents. I want to continue that partnership today.”
Video of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.
With President Trump’s increasing attacks on our constitutional order and failure to confront political violence, the legislative branch and state governments must step in and do everything in their power to defend the rule of law and protect the American people.
During today’s hearing, lawmakers will hear firsthand testimony from Democratic Attorneys General from across the country leading this fight on behalf of their constituents and the American people, including: Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Massachusetts; Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minnesota; Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Illinois; and Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, New Jersey.
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