Political Quotes

“I rise in opposition to the Derrick amendment and I am addressing my remarks to the 98 Democrats who supported the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hyde] in the last rollcall. If they voted yes on Hyde, they must vote no on Derrick. Mr. Chairman, those who are supporting the Derrick amendment would have the membership believe that if the Derrick amendment fails, then the writ of habeas corpus is completely gutted. That is not true. The Hyde amendment simply keeps the present law in place on habeas corpus. The Derrick amendment should it be adopted would give death row inmates the opportunity to appeal every time the Supreme Court issues another ruling on the death penalty, and that means that effectively nobody who is sentenced to death by a jury of their peers will be executed in the United States. Mr. Chairman, it is no secret that the district attorneys and the attorneys general are opposed to this. They are the ones who are in charge of the prosecutions. Mr. Chairman, I would like to quote from a letter sent to the Congress by 30 attorneys general, including Travis Medlock, the Democratic attorney general of South Carolina. We understand that a new habeas amendment is also expected to be offered by Congressman Butler Derrick of South Carolina. Preliminary review shows that this amendment is also worse than current law and would overturn numerous key U.S. Supreme Court cases governing habeas corpus.”