John Conyers: “as I previously stated, I think this legislation is ill-advised because it assumes that the Federal judiciary knows…”

“as I previously stated, I think this legislation is ill-advised because it assumes that the Federal judiciary knows better than State and local officials and judges when it comes to issues of local land use. I disagree. Nevertheless, if we are going to give property owners the ability to ``jump the line'' into Federal court, it seems only fair that we should extend this same right to other section 1983 plaintiffs. As a result, the Watt-Conyers amendment would allow all section 1983 plaintiffs bringing actions for constitutional violations to utilize the bill's provisions concerning ripeness and abstention--not just big corporations bringing actions. As currently drafted, H.R. 2372 permits developers and polluters with taking claims against the government under section 1983 to avoid most State legal procedures, but ordinary citizens whose civil rights have been violated would be placed in a relative position of inferiority. This turns the very purpose of section 1983 actions completely on its head. Section 1983 was adopted as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 in the wake of the Reconstruction amendments to the Constitution. Known as the ``Ku Klux Klan Act,'' it was specifically designed to halt a wave of lynchings of African-Americans that had occurred under guise of state and local law.”