Gregory Laughlin: “I rise in opposition to the Hyde amendment, with all due respect to the gentleman from Illinois. It has been said no law…”

“I rise in opposition to the Hyde amendment, with all due respect to the gentleman from Illinois. It has been said no law enforcement people are in favor of the Derrick amendment, and they all want the Hyde amendment, and I am confused by that, I have to confess to the gentleman. I prosecuted for 4 years, and I have read these statutes, and I realize reasonable, and many are very bright, lawyers differ on interpretations. But for the life of me, as I travel around this district that I represent, people are saying to me, ``We want change in habeas corpus,'' and with all respect, I say to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hyde], I do not understand your amendment, keeping it the way it is. While there needs to be change, perhaps this bill does not take it to perfection the way you and the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Sensenbrenner] and others with long, strong law enforcement backgrounds would want, but it is an improvement to have a 1-year statute of limitations. It is an improvement not to allow more than one appeal. So I submit to my colleagues that this is improvement to the mess that we have on our hands as others have described it, and I would urge defeat of the Hyde amendment.”