Mike Levin: “Last week, Senator Kyl placed a statement in the Congressional Record regarding the Graham-Levin amendment, which was…”

“Last week, Senator Kyl placed a statement in the Congressional Record regarding the Graham-Levin amendment, which was enacted last year as section 1405 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 and as section 1005 of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, as included in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006. Senator Kyl and Senator Reid cosponsored the Graham-Levin amendment in the Senate. Senator Kyl argues that this provision was intended to retroactively strip the Federal courts, including the Supreme Court, of jurisdiction over pending cases. Senator Kyl's statement attached a January 18, 2006, letter from Senator Kyl and Senator Graham to Attorney General Gonzales, which makes the same argument. As I stated when the Graham-Levin amendment was before the Senate and reiterated when the Senate adopted the conference report containing the legislation, this is not the case. The statute that we enacted does not retroactively strip the Supreme Court and other Federal courts of cases over which they had already assumed jurisdiction at the time the statute was passed. I do not believe that the unexpressed intentions or after-the-fact statements of Senators--Senator Kyl, myself, or anyone else--can change the facts or the legislative history that existed at the time Congress acted on a piece of legislation.…”