Patrick Leahy

The Issa-Cummings bill that Senator Grassley mentioned actually would order agencies to do this within 180 days.

Open government is important to every single American, no matter what their political affiliation.

The more transparency you have in any society, the more apt it is to be a democratic and open society.

It takes some pressure. It takes leverage of money. It takes holding up some confirmations. And yes, it might take a subpoena.

I think maybe Senator Leahy sits on an Appropriations Committee. I just remember when a Secretary of State named Jim Baker showed up in front of the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Leahy said, 'Don't you have a big FOIA backlog?'

It was a great idea. It was one of the first pieces of teeth that we have seen in the law anytime, anywhere.

I have called on the Department of Justice to be more transparent about opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel.

How many agencies are fully in compliance with the OPEN Government Act? What percentage?

I am troubled by reports that the Obama administration is becoming more secretive about its national security policies.

We did not pass this law just for the sake of having a law on the books.

Our goal was to help reverse the troubling trends of excessive FOIA delays that we had witnessed for so many years.

I realize we have not gone in the regular order with the manager of the nomination speaking first. We are having a hearing right now with the Attorney General. So I ask unanimous consent, when the distinguished Senator finishes his speech…

I hope you will work with us as we do immigration reform, because that would complete the whole legislation.

It was nice to actually have Senators do things together on both sides of the aisle, and the country is better off for it.

This week is the anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday,' when voting rights marchers, including now-Congressman John Lewis, were beaten by State troopers as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

Oh, Senator Grassley raises a very good point.

We are concerned, some of us, that the Department may inappropriately apply the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Congress has a significant role to play in conducting oversight of national security matters.

American citizens have a right to understand when their life can be taken by their Government absent due process.

Turning away from excessive sentences and mandatory minimums for nonviolent offenders would be a good start.

It would be good to hear from the Attorney General that he will be releasing such an opinion today.

We have worked hard to fight fraud and corporate wrongdoing.

Since that time, the credibility of the Justice Department among the American people... has increased dramatically.

I thank the majority leader for what he said on these nominations. As he knows, we have an awful lot of them that have come out, and then every time he has tried to move them quickly on the Senate floor there has been opposition from the…

I stand with the Senator from Michigan. In the Judiciary Committee, we follow the same procedure for our judicial nominees regardless of the party of the President who nominates them. If we begin switching the rules depending upon who is…