Russ Feingold: “I thank the Senator and take my hat off to him and to our neighbor to the south, the State of Illinois. Without the…”

“I thank the Senator and take my hat off to him and to our neighbor to the south, the State of Illinois. Without the leadership of Illinois, which had the courage to admit that it had a problem, this entire issue would not be receiving the kind of examination occurring across the country. That is to the Senator's credit, to that of the Governor, and to all the people of your State. The bill I have introduced is modeled exactly after the pattern followed in Illinois; that is, the calling of a moratorium by a Governor who is, or at least has been, a death penalty supporter, and then the appointing of a very distinguished blue-ribbon commission, including our former wonderful colleague, Paul Simon, and including both pro- and anti-death penalty people. Under Illinois' leadership, there will be this kind of pause and examination that is open to people of any view on the death penalty, to simply make sure that system is fixed. As the Senator pointed out, Illinois could not possibly be the only State that has this problem. In fact, I predict it will not turn out to be the one with the worst problem in this area. The other States need to join it on this, the Federal Government needs to join, and I compliment your State, as I did in my earlier remarks, as being one of the only two States to recognize the right to have guaranteed DNA testing.”