Political Quotes

“If the Senator will look closely at the Kennedy-Smith amendment, he will find before the Federal cause of action can be initiated--as I understand it, but I defer to either of the major sponsors--before there can be a Federal indictment under this proposed hate crime, the Department of Justice must certify two things: First, reasonable cause to believe that the crime was motivated by bias; second, addressing the very issue raised by the Senator from Utah, the U.S. attorney has to certify that he has consulted with State or local law enforcement officials and determined one of the following situations is present, and he lists four situations. First, the State does not have jurisdiction or does not intend to exercise jurisdiction; second, the State has requested that the Justice Department assume jurisdiction; third, the State doesn't object to the Justice Department assuming jurisdiction; or fourth, the State has completed prosecution and the Justice Department wants to initiate a subsequent prosecution. When the Senator from Utah suggests that the Kennedy-Smith amendment will necessitate Federal control, I think, frankly, that when you look at the certification required by the Federal Government before the action can be undertaken, we clearly have a situation where the State has either no jurisdiction, or has invited the Justice Department to initiate the prosecution, or they have completed their prosecution.”