Jerry Nadler: “I hold no brief for terrorism. I hold no brief for the actions of the FALN. I do not think arguments about the status of…”

“I hold no brief for terrorism. I hold no brief for the actions of the FALN. I do not think arguments about the status of Puerto Rico, whether it is a colony or not, are relevant to this discussion. Whether Puerto Rico is a colony or not does not justify people to engage in armed revolt. All of that is irrelevant. What is relevant, and what I want to talk about for a moment, is the rule of law. The rule of law says an individual should be sentenced by the court for the crimes they are convicted of. The rule of law says that people convicted of the same crimes, more or less, should be sentenced to more or less the same sentences. The rule of law says that before the Congress passes resolutions commenting on a particular criminal case it should know the facts and should hold hearings first and then have the resolution, not the other way around. This resolution, frankly, is an outrage. It borders on a bill of attainder. Technically it is not, but it borders on it. This bill makes many questionable statements of fact: "Whereas the Federal Bureau of Prisons reportedly based its decision in part on the existence of audio recordings indicating that some of the 16 have vowed to resume their violent activities upon release from prison." Well, are those audio recordings in existence or not? Certainly makes a difference. Reportedly? We do not know. Let us have a hearing and find out first before we do this.”