Orrin Hatch: “Yesterday, the other body voted, in effect, to repeal the death penalty in Utah and every other State which has a…”

“Yesterday, the other body voted, in effect, to repeal the death penalty in Utah and every other State which has a constitutional death penalty. It has voted to gut the existing Federal death penalty and every new Federal death penalty in the crime bill. While the House was doing this, there was not a word of protest from President Clinton--not one. Even though he has indicated in the past that he is against that provision. The other body's crime bill contains a misleadingly labeled 'Racial Discriminatory Capital Sentencing' provision, commonly referred to as the so-called Racial Justice Act. It is really a provision intended to end the use of the death penalty unless it is imposed on a racial quota basis. The effort to delete this provision from the House crime bill was defeated 217 to 212, with 5 delegates voting in support of the Racial Justice Act. Members from the other side of the aisle accounted for 211 of the 217 members who voted for the Racial Justice Act. The Senate has overwhelmingly shared my opposition to these kinds of provisions every time it has considered the proposal. The so-called Racial Justice Act was stricken from the last Congress' crime bill, in 1991, by a vote of 55 to 41. It was rejected in 1990 by a vote of 58 to 38. A similar amendment was soundly defeated by the full Senate in 1988 by a vote of 52 to 35.”