Senate Judiciary Committee U S

When the Senate Judiciary Committee asked U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas to fill out its standard questionnaire, it got more than it bargained for--16,000 pages in all. Thomas supplied the panel with hundreds of speeches, newspaper articles, court opinions and documents from his years as a federal official during the Ronald Reagan Administration. For weeks, Senate staffers have been wading through the thick file, uncovering tidbits about Thomas, the man.

On her first day fielding questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on Tuesday was accused of shading the truth about her role in a controversy over military recruiters at Harvard University. "The overall picture that she portrayed of the situation seems to me to be disconnected to the reality," Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the panel, said after an extended spat with Kagan. "I believe that's a serious matter." Sessions also said that she was not "rigorously accurate" and that he expected "intellectual honesty" from prospective justices.

Susan Jane Hoerchner, the college friend who testified Sunday in support of Anita Faye Hill, was a key corroborative witness earlier this year in a California sex harassment case that resulted in the presiding judge of the Norwalk Workers' Compensation Appeals Board stepping aside, state officials said.

Republicans have chosen Jeff Sessions to be their leader on the Senate Judiciary Committee, making the conservative Alabaman the public face of the GOP during coming battles over immigration and the next Supreme Court nominee. A formal vote installing Sessions to replace Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania -- who announced last week that he was switching to the Democratic Party -- as ranking Republican on the committee could come as early as today.

In a highly charged confrontation to be played out today before a national television audience, a second woman who worked with Clarence Thomas is expected to join law professor Anita Faye Hill in telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Supreme Court nominee made sexual comments to her while they worked together at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Excerpts from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales testified: "The truth is that these firings haven't been explained, and there is mounting evidence of improper considerations and actions resulting in the dismissals. The dismissed U.S. attorneys have testified under oath they believe political influence resulted in their being replaced. If they're right, the mixing of partisan political goals into ... law enforcement is highly improper." Sen.

Texas businessman John N. Doggett III, who strode into the spotlight of the Clarence Thomas controversy to allege that Anita Faye Hill "fantasized" about him, is a bright, self-assured professional, but also given to self-promotion and pomposity, those who know him said Monday. The 43-year-old management consultant and part-time professor from Austin, Tex.

The announcement that Anita Faye Hill had taken and passed a lie detector test on her allegations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas caused an uproar Sunday on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but experts were quick to point out that while the polygraph is considered a valuable investigative tool its accuracy can vary widely.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday vigorously challenged FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for the bureau's handling of the anthrax mailings investigation, signaling that they were not convinced the case had been solved. Both the panel's Democratic chairman and its most senior Republican said that, based on what evidence they had seen, the FBI had not proved that the mailings were perpetrated solely by Bruce E.

In a major departure from the Bush administration, the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday issued new work site enforcement guidelines that shift the focus to employers rather than illegal workers and could be a harbinger of more immigration reforms. The federal guidelines instruct agents to conduct "carefully planned criminal investigations" of employers and to look for evidence that they may be involved in smuggling or visa fraud.

In a major departure from the Bush administration, the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday issued new work site enforcement guidelines that shift the focus to employers rather than illegal workers and could be a harbinger of more immigration reforms. The federal guidelines instruct agents to conduct "carefully planned criminal investigations" of employers and to look for evidence that they may be involved in smuggling or visa fraud.

President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general was described on Day Two of his confirmation hearings Friday both as a man of great principle and independence and as a lawman unworthy of the nation's top law enforcement job because he was soft on Puerto Rican nationalists. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, two witnesses sharply criticized Eric H. Holder Jr.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday vigorously challenged FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for the bureau's handling of the anthrax mailings investigation, signaling that they were not convinced the case had been solved. Both the panel's Democratic chairman and its most senior Republican said that, based on what evidence they had seen, the FBI had not proved that the mailings were perpetrated solely by Bruce E.

Senate Democrats assailed Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey on Wednesday for refusing to offer an opinion on the legality of waterboarding, an interrogation method that many consider a form of illegal torture. In often sharp exchanges, the lawmakers accused Mukasey of trying to protect the Bush administration, with one comparing him to a corporate lawyer trying to cover up the misdeeds of his client.

Excerpts from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales testified: "The truth is that these firings haven't been explained, and there is mounting evidence of improper considerations and actions resulting in the dismissals. The dismissed U.S. attorneys have testified under oath they believe political influence resulted in their being replaced. If they're right, the mixing of partisan political goals into ... law enforcement is highly improper." Sen.

When Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales faces angry Senate Democrats on Tuesday, he will acknowledge that he made a range of mistakes in the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys last year and will apologize to them and their families, but he will insist that even though the White House was originally behind the terminations, none of the prosecutors were fired for political reasons.

In the end, Democrats showed force but didn't pull the trigger. Republicans proved they could unify under pressure. But the real surprise behind the Senate's 58-42 vote to confirm John Ashcroft as attorney general Thursday was how both sides seemed ready to move on. There were few signs the battle would leave the long-term scars many had assumed would result from the controversial nomination.

Former Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri won Senate confirmation Thursday as attorney general, 58 to 42, surviving a vitriolic six-week debate that triggered the largest opposition vote for the post in more than 75 years. The vote marked the first big political test for President Bush's fledgling administration, and Bush came out of it with a victory far narrower than many Republicans had predicted. Only eight Democrats joined the Senate's 50 Republicans to support Ashcroft.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicating they think there is more to learn about the firings of eight federal prosecutors last year, asked Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales on Monday to turn over additional documents on the terminations and threatened to issue subpoenas if the materials were not forthcoming. Specifically, the four senators want the internal rankings that the Justice Department made of all 93 U.S. attorneys over the years, as well as employment charts that Monica M.

The Bush administration, accused of politicizing the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys, agreed Thursday not to oppose legislation to restore rules ensuring Senate oversight when new prosecutors are named, Senate Democrats said. The Justice Department also agreed to make five senior officials available to the Senate Judiciary Committee for questioning about the removal of eight U.S. attorneys in recent months, according to Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.