Patrick Leahy

I'm proud to be a co-sponsor of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.

The legislation has been stalled far too long and it's time to act.

I think the recent events we've seen in this country show that these vicious crimes are a continuing problem.

There are programs that provide and authorize grants to help State, local, and tribal law enforcement officials.

If the States had the capacity to deal with this issue, that's the preferred route.

We did pass the Federal hate crime legislation in 1968 in the wake of the assassination of civil rights icon Martin Luther King.

I would just say, therefore, that when we now carve out a different class of people that may also deserve that kind of protection, we need, and owe it to the American people and to our legal system, to explain why these cases are such…

I commend Senator Kennedy for his leadership in this effort over the years.

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act has been pending in the Senate for more than a decade.

We need this protection, we deserve this justice.

There are States that do not have hate crime statutes.

On June 24, 2009, Senator Leahy introduced the Crime Victims Fund Preservation Act of 2009, of which I am a cosponsor.

I do not want what appears to many people to be one rule for white America and a different rule for black America.

I hope you will look into it, and I would also hope you will redouble your efforts to work with me on a media shield bill.

We want us to be secure. We want us to be able to use the abilities to gather intelligence.

I do not know how we reauthorize any of these things if they are going to be abused that way.

I do not know how we justify continuing these expansive authorities, whether it is FISA or the search powers authorized by the PATRIOT Act, when they are being--even the expanded authorities are being abused this way.

I had objected to it because I felt there was a lack of adequate protections in it.

We owe it to the memories of Officer Stephen Johns, the murdered guard at the museum, and Matthew Shepard and so many others.

I think we have to strengthen the hand of law enforcement to respond to these very vile threats and vile crimes.

I want to make sure we have accurate views of what is happening.

I believe in that debate, political rhetoric has drowned out reason and reality.

Changing our interrogation policies to ban torture was an essential first step.

I believe strongly that we can ensure our safety and security. We can bring our enemies to justice.

An issue on which I believe Attorney General Holder has shown great courage in the face of political pressure is his commitment to the process of safely and effectively closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.