Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, in response to the gentleman from Massachusetts, he said it happens, innocent people get convicted. Yes; and they get saved by habeas corpus under current law. All of this 40 percent that got their convictions turned around because of incompetent counsel, they were benefited by current law. So it happens that they are saved. Now, we do not need to attenuate the process decades into the future, meanwhile causing great pain and anguish to the families of the victims who wonder if justice will ever be done. Yes, retroactivity is covered under Teague versus Lane. And what the Derrick amendment does is redefine what a new rule is to make everything an old rule, to make Teague versus Lane inoperative, so that more and more and more petitions can be brought. The idea of multiple petitions, however, is from your own language, not yours, my friend from Massachusetts, but the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Derrick] and the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Laughlin], when they say, 'Our substitute,' speaking of their substitute, 'says these petitions,' plural, 'may only be heard if they go to the defendant's guilt or legal eligibility for the death sentence.' Well, that seems to me like multiple petitions.”