Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. ET, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to examine the crisis of racial profiling, police brutality and lost trust between police departments and the communities they serve. On June 8, 2020, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass (D-CA), Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, the first-ever bold, comprehensive approach to hold police accountable, change the culture of law enforcement and build trust between law enforcement and our communities. The Justice in Policing Act has 202 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 36 cosponsors in the Senate.

Witnesses:

• Philonise Floyd, Brother of George Floyd (live witness)
  • Philonise Floyd is the brother of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020.

• Vanita Gupta, Leadership Conference for Civil Rights (live witness)
  • Vanita Gupta is the President and CEO at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Gupta previously served as Acting Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and led the Department’s Civil Rights Division.

• Chief Art Acevedo, President, Major City Chiefs (virtual witness)
  • ArtAcevedo is the President of Major City Chiefs. Acevedo has been serving as Chief of the Houston Police Department since 2016.

• Pastor Darrell Scott (live witness)
  • Darrell Scott is Senior Pastor for the New Spirit Revival Center and a member of President Donald Trump’s executive transition team. He co-founded the National Diversity Coalition for Trump in April 2016. In the White House, Scott has served on the Faith Advisory Board, Prison Reform Council, and Media Advisory Council.

• Sherrilyn Ifill, LDF (virtual witness)
  • Sherrilyn Ifill is the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

• Prof. Paul Butler, Georgetown Law School (live witness)
  • Paul Butler is the Albert Brick Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he specializes in criminal law and race relations. Butler is widely recognized for writing Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice and Chokehold: Policing of Black Men.

• Angela Underwood Jacobs (live witness)
  • Angela Underwood Jacobs is the first African-American woman elected to Lancaster City Council. She previously served as Criminal Justice Commissioner for the City of Lancaster. She previously ran for U.S. Congress.

• Ben Crump, Esq. (live witness)
  • Benjamin Crump is the civil rights attorney representing George Floyd’s family.

• Ron Davis, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (virtual witness)
  • Ron Davis is the Legislative Affairs Chair of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). From 2013 to 2017, Davis directed the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the U.S. Department of Justice.

• Daniel Bongino (live witness)
  • Daniel Bongino is a conservative radio show host. Bongino also ran for U.S. Congress and served as a U.S. Secret Service Agent.

• Prof. Phillip Goff, Center for Policing Equity (virtual witness)
  • Phillip Goff is the Co-founder and President of the Center for Policing Equity; Dr. Goff serves as a principal investigator for the Center’s National Justice Database, which tracks racial disparities in police stops and use of force.

• Marc Morial, National Urban League (live witness)
  • Marc Morial is the President and CEO of the National Urban League. Morial also served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.

NOTE: Witnesses recommended by the Republicans are Daniel Bongino, Pastor Darrell Scott, and Angela Underwood Jacobs.

Date: June 10, 2020

Time: 10:00 a.m. ET

Location:Congressional Auditorium
U.S. Capitol Visitors Center
Washington, D.C.

Livestream: The hearing will stream live here.

NOTE: The Committee on the Judiciary is following guidelines developed in consultation with the Office of the Attending Physician (OAP) and the House Sergeant at Arms. The OAP recommends all individuals maintain 6-foot social distance spacing as much as practicable when in the Capitol Complex. Additionally, on the advice of the OAP, the use of a face covering is recommended for all attendees of this proceeding. The general public will not be allowed to attend the hearing in person, however, the hearing will be streamed live.

Background:

On June 2, 2020, Chair Bass and Chairman Nadler convened a briefing with national advocacy organizations for House Judiciary Committee Democratic Members and congressional staff. There were representatives from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, National Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Urban League, Obama Administration U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and the Center for Policing Equity. Nearly 100 participants, including Members of Congress, staff, and advocates, joined the virtual briefing.

On May 28, 2020, all House Judiciary Democrats sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice to demand they investigate the prosecutors involved in the case of Ahmaud Arbery and open investigations into the police departments involved with the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. The letter is available here.

Federal law prohibits any governmental authority from engaging in a “pattern or practice” of conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives persons of their constitutional rights. This federal statute also authorizes the Attorney General to initiate a civil action to obtain appropriate equitable or declaratory relief to eliminate such a pattern or practice.

In the wake of high-profile applications of fatal force by police against unarmed African American men in Ferguson, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago, the Justice Department investigated policing practices in those cities and uncovered rampant abuses of constitutional rights and civil liberties. During the Obama Administration, the Justice Department negotiated consent decree agreements with the police departments in all four cities. Following President Trump’s election and his appointment of Jefferson B. Sessions as Attorney General, the Justice Department abruptly changed its interpretation of its statutory role to eliminate patterns and practices of unconstitutional conduct in local police departments.

In May 2019, Chairman Nadler, Chair Bass and several House Judiciary Committee Democrats sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice seeking information about actions it was taking to reduce police-involved violence, including its use of consent decrees and pattern and practice investigations. To date, there has been no substantive response. On September 19, 2019, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to address unconstitutional conduct by state and local law enforcement officials.