While the specific names of U.S. Senate and House committees don’t always foretell precisely what very specific areas they may oversee or regard as their own purview, the renaming of such a committee by its new chair, as is occasionally done at the start of a new session, particularly when control of the chamber changes hands from one party to another, can be very telling.
I believe this may be one such instance where quite a bit can actually be read into the new name for what had previously been the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee’s “Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights”…
As reported by Dana Liebelson and Ryan J. Reilly of Huffington Post…
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee this month and announced the members of the six subcommittees this week. With Grassley’s announcement, the subcommittee formerly known as the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights suddenly became the Subcommittee on the Constitution.
The new chairman of the newly named subcommittee is Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). His office confirmed that it made the switch.
“We changed the name because the Constitution covers our most basic rights, including civil and human rights,” said Cornyn spokeswoman Megan Mitchell. “We will focus on these rights, along with other issues that fall under the broader umbrella of the Constitution.”
In his press release, Cornyn never used the phrase “civil rights” or “human rights.” Instead, the release said he would be a “watchdog against unconstitutional overreach and will hold the Obama Administration accountable for its actions.” Cornyn is an opponent of legislation that would restore federal oversight over some local and state election changes that were eliminated when the Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.
Nancy Zirkin, executive VP at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights noticed the named change and described it as “discouraging”.
“Names matter. This, after all, is a subcommittee with jurisdiction over the implementation and enforcement of many of our most important civil rights laws,” she told HuffPo in a statement Friday. “We only hope that this troubling name change doesn’t foretell a heedless retreat on civil and human rights.”
Well, of course it foretells exactly that. Bank on it. Just as assuredly as hardline anti-immigration Senator Jeff Session (R-AL)’s new name for the Senate Judiciary committee’s “Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security” foretells new plans (or lack thereof) for that committee.
As HuffPo noted, Sessions has renamed that committee to the “Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest”.
What’s in a name? In these cases — particularly given what they’ve changed from and now to — I’d say quite a bit. But, as they say, “elections have consequences”. Hopefully all of those civil and human rights, not to mention refugees, all deliberately and ostentatiously thrown overboard by the U.S. Senate’s new Republican regime, can hang on until January of 2017…
Hmmm!
I suspect that the formerly named Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights will not conduct anything that resembles the September 2011 hearings that focused on GOP voter suppression.
See, our previous coverage:
U.S. Senate Hearings on New GOP Voter Suppression Laws [Part 1 of 2] – Photo ID Restrictions and the Disastrous Return of Hans von Spakovsky
and:
U.S. Senate Hearings on New GOP Voter Suppression Laws [Part 2 of 2] – Restrictions on Registration, Early Voting and YOUR Right to Vote
It seems that even the pod people who took over the Senate have a sense of truth in advertising.
When will the United States offer more than the better between a choice of two evils during
“elections” (as if votes were legitimately counted any more? (Wow, “Cowboy” Cornyn is still around raisin’ a mighty dust-storm? I think it was here that I first saw that hilarious campaign video of his https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt05KC3Add8)
John Cornyn, quantum physicist….laughingstock and jagoff in the same temporal dimension!
Adam @ 3:
Excellent memory, Adam! We ran that video way back in 2008.
But it’s always worth enjoying again. (And, as a reminder to those who missed it the first time, yes, this was an actual campaign video. No, it wasn’t a joke. It was his 2008 TX GOP Convention intro video.)
we should be so proud of our newly elected replublicans.. well just in its 3rd week they have managed to push thru yet another abortion bill… so damn proud of them.. i mean.. who wants jobs and lower taxes and a better economey right ? i think they need a new adding machine tho.. cause on mine its way cheaper for a simple medical procedure then to feed, house, and educate an unwanted child..