Thursday, March 05, 2020
Political Mayhem Thursday: Live Edition!
It was quite a morning (and into the afternoon) testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee. I think it went pretty well. I was the one witness called by the Republicans, but the three Democratic witnesses were all people I know and respect, including my longtime co-author on clemency issues, Rachel Barkow.
At the start of the hearing, Rep. Nadler quoted something from my written testimony, attributed it to Alexander Hamilton, and then disagreed with it, which has to be a high point of my career in advocacy. And, yes, the musical "Osler!" would be super-boring.
It evolved into a really good discussion that even veered briefly into Shakespeare (re his themes of mercy). You can sense the partisan fighting that is endemic to the institution, but that really did not infect the interaction between the witnesses and the members of Congress. Sometimes, I get to hang around on this tiny island of bipartisanship, and that is a pretty awesome place to be.
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Very interesting. Did the Republicans select you based on where you have lived? The once reliable conservative bastion of Grosse Pointe and then the uber, Christian conservative Waco?
No, I don't think so. The Rep. counsel I worked with, Paul Taylor, had read my work and seemed to understand it well. This is an issue that really does have support from both sides. If you watch the start of the hearing, the Republican Ranking member of the Committee actually read for a while from my written statement.
Watching the hearing it seemed that the panel and legislators from both sides did not just agree that there is a problem but also agreed on the solution going forward. Can they help get the word out?
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