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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OVERSIGHT
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Depirtnent of Justice aversijbt/ S ^f^
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
THE ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
JULY 28, 1994
Serial No. J-103-65
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary'
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
23-475CC WASHINGTON : 1996
ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice
SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-052515-2
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S. Hrg. 103-1081
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OVERSIGHT
Y 4. J B9/2: S. HRG. 103-1081
,
Depirtnent of Justice Oversijitt; S N^O
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIAKY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
THE ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
JULY 28, 1994
Serial No. J-103-65
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary-
U..
May
23
U.S. GOVERNME^^^ PRINTING OFFICE
23-475CC WASHINGTON : 1996
ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice
SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice.Washington,DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-052515-2
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware, Chairman
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, Ohio STROM THURMOND, South CaroUna
DENNIS DeCONCINI, Arizona ALAN K. SIMPSON, Wyoming
PATRICKJ. LEAHY, Vermont CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa
HOWELL HEFLIN, Alabama ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania
PAUL SIMON, IlUnois HANK BROWN, Colorado
HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin WILLIAM S. COHEN, Maine
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California LARRY PRESSLER, South Dakota
CAROL MOSELEY-BRAUN, Illinois
Cynthia C. Hogan, ChiefCounsel
CATHERihfE M. Russell, StaffDirector
Mark R. Disler, Minority StaffDirector
Sharon Prost, Minority ChiefCounsel
(II)
CONTENTS
STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Page
Biden, Hon. Joseph R.,Jr., U.S. Senatorfromthe State ofDelaware 1
Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., U.S. Senatorfrom the StateofUtah 3
Kohl, Hon. Herb, U.S. Senatorfrom the StateofWisconsin 19
Moseley-Braun, Hon. Carol, U.S. Senatorfrom the StateofIllinois 28
Grassley, Hon. Charles E., U.S. Senatorfrom the State ofIowa 32
Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, U.S. Senatorfrom the StateofCalifornia 35
Cohen, Hon. William S., U.S. Senatorfrom the State ofMaine 40
Specter, Hon. Arlen, U.S. Senatorfromthe State ofPennsylvania 49
Simpson, Hon. Alan, U.S. Senatorfromthe StateofWyoming 89
Brown, Hon. Hank, U.S. Senatorfrom the StateofColorado 94
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES
StatementofJanetReno,AttorneyGeneral, U.S. DepartmentofJustice 5
ALPHABETICAL LIST AND MATERIAL SUBMITTED
Biden, Hon. Joseph R.,Jr.:
Testimony 1
Anexcerptfrom the policingbill 14
Reno,Janet:
Testimony 5
Prepared statement 98
Specter, Hon. Arlen:
Testimony 49
LettertoAttorney General Reno andvarious otherattachments 50
Letter from Robert B. Fiske, Jr., U.S. Department of Justice, to
SenatorArlen Specter 83
APPENDIX
Questions and Answers
Questions toAttorney GeneradJanetReno from Senators:
Biden 103
Simon 103
Leahy 113
Simpson 118
Brown 121
DeConcini 124
(HI)
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OVERSIGHT
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1994
U.S. Senate,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:05 p.m., in room
SD-226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
(chairman ofthe committee), presiding.
Also present: Senators DeConcini, Kohl, Feinstein, Moseley-
Braun, Hatch, Thurmond, Simpson, Grassley, Specter, Brown, and
Cohen.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH R. BmEN, JR.,AU.S.
SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF DELAWARE
The Chairman. The hearing will come to order. To use the
phrase twice today, I thank my colleagues for allowing, as we say
in this business, a point of personal privilege. I wanted these two
young men from the State of Delaware and one intern of mine to
have the honor of meeting the Attorney General. The two young
men, Brian and Michael, who are here are from my State and, as
all ofus, we have people from Boy's Nation.
I have got a feeling, the way they both sat in my chair to have
their pictures taken, that they were very comfortable. Fellows, just
make sure you don't run against me. I know you are both senators
now in Boy's Nation; that is their official title, they are senators.
But give me a chance to gracefully leave before you decide to run.
General thank you for being so gracious to meet my colleagues
from my State.
Today, the committee is fortunate indeed, and particularly today,
to have with us the Attorney General of the United States, Janet
Reno, for the purpose of conducting our regular oversight hearing
on the Department ofJustice. I want to say to the Republican staff,
as well as the Democratic staff, and to your staff, this is a very im-
portant hearing, but all three staffs have been incredibly occupied
with other matters, such as the crime bill, the Supreme Court nom-
ination—, and this hearing. So I a—ppreciate. General, your accommo-
dating I will speak for myself my schedule and the schedule of
this committee, and I appreciate Senator Hatch's indulgence of the
way we have had to change the hearing date at least once.
Because the Attorney General's time is limited, we will have no
opening statements, but before we start I have a few words about
the purpose ofthe hearing. Under Attorney General Reno, I believe
the Justice Department and this committee have worked to form
a positive working relationship. Regular and serious oversight of
(1)
the Justice Department is an essential part ofthe working relation-
ship between this committee and the department, and an impor-
tant responsibility ofthis committee.
In the period since you—became Attorney G—reneral, some time
more than a year ago now it is hard to believe ^we have achieved
important goals, I think, working together, no more important one,
in my view, than what we accomplished in the conference today.
We passed the Brady bill, a major victory for those wanting to
slow down the wanton spread of firearms in our society. Last No-
vember, the Senate passed the crime bill, and I have just returned
with my colleagues from the House-Senate conference where we
put the finishing touches on the final crime bill that will be pre-
sented to both Houses shortly. I am confident that we will soon
have a crime bill for the President's signature, a bill that meets our
joint goals of being tough and smart by focusing on law enforce-
ment and prevention at the sametime.
In this very important bill, we have the most massive Federal
commitment ever to the women and men of State and local law en-
forcement, fulfilling the President's goal of 100,000 new police offi-
cers. We have a vast new prison program to help States keep their
most violent and dangerous offenders behind bars, and we have a
package of prevention programs that I know my colleague from
Utah and others don't like particularly, but a lot ofthe police orga-
nizations and I like them a great deal, that will provide tens of
thousands ofyoung people with the skills and hopefully the expec-
tation and hope they need to stay clear ofthe temptations ofgangs
and drugs.
We have a sweeping assault on the tragic problem of violence
against women, the most far-reaching Federal legislation ever tar-
geted, thanks to the incredible help of the Senator from Utah. We
disagreed on a lot ofthings in the legislation, but that is not some-
thing we disagreed on.
Senator Hatch. We agree on that, I will tell you.
The Chairman. It could not have passed without the Senator's
cosponsorship.
Senator Hatch. Thank you.
The Chairman. I am sure he would rather be able to vote for
that alone in the bill and not the whole bill, but I will say publicly
that I know that —notwithstanding the fact he may vote again—st the
conference report I hope there is time to reconsider that ^that
does not reflect anything but his enthusiasm for what he worked
so hard on, the violence against women legislation.
This new legislation brings a total of $30 billion to bear on the
problem of crime and all its aspects over the next 6 years. At the
sametime, it imposes significant new responsibilities on you, Gren-
eral, and your department. Spending this money and implementing
that many initiatives and programs prescribed in this bill is an
awesome task. I look forward to working with you in the coming
months to implement the promise of the crime bill that we have
just completed in conference and hopefully we will pass shortly.
I will ask you today, Greneral, to talk with me about the depart-
ment's plans in this regard. I will also ask you about issues ofcon-
tinuing concern and interest to me, including the Office of Profes-
sional Responsibility and its review of allegations of prosecutorial
misconduct.
Attorney General Reno, I know that my colleagues and I have
many questions for you today. I look forward to discussing your
views on issues facing your department, and I thank you and wel-
come you.
I would yield now to my friend from Utah.
STATEMENT OF HON. ORRIN G. HATCH, AU.S. SENATOR FROM
THE STATE OF UTAH
Senator Hatch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I congratulate
you and you. General Reno, for a crime bill that was passed today.
Even though I do disagree with some ofit, I agree with quite a bit
ofit as well.
I want to welcome you. Attorney General Reno, to the committee.
As you know, what you do at Justice affects my State and every
other State in the Union, and the citizens of Utah are greatly af-
fected by the decisions that are made there, including law enforce-
ment decisions.
I really believe that this administration has talked tough on
crime, but has failed to deliver tough, hard-nosed policies that the
American people expect and deserve. For instance, the administra-
tion has allowed the number of Federal law enforcement agents
and prosecutors to decrease. It has introduced a budget for fiscal
year 1995 that cut prison construction, cut aid to State and local
law enforcement, and cut funding for drug interdictions. It reversed
an existing policy that required prosecutors to charge violent crimi-
nals with the most serious provable offense.
This administration sided with a convicted child pomographer in
litigation to narrow the scope of Federal child pornography laws,
which has caused a lot ofangst up here on Capitol Hill. It searched
long and hard for a method to gut the death penalty under what
we consider to be the false labeUng of the so-called Racial Justice
act, or any facsimile thereof, and advocated the waste ofbillions of
dollars of scarce crime-fighting resources on social spending boon-
doggles, while failing to offer a comprehensive crime bill ofits own.
I ^so believe, and this is very important to me and I think a lot
ofother Senators up here, that the administration has dropped the
ball on religious liberty. In what I believe is the administration's
first interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration act, in
Christian v. Crystal Evangelical Free Church the administration
adopted a crabbed reading of that historic civil rights legislation.
If that interpretation of the administration is adopted by the
courts, then the Religious Freedom Restoration act will be gutted,
and people all over this country are going to be upset and certainly
I am going to be upset. I think you need to change the thrust of
the Justice Department there. I believe this administration has
turned the clock back on civil rights, in a sense, by an increasing
mis-reUance on statistics and on proportionality and equal results
asIalmoeokasfuorrewaorfdeqtuoadliospcpuosrstiunngittyh.ese matters, and let me j.ust. adjjd
one other point. The committee moved expeditiously during this
time that President Clinton has been in office onjudicial nominees.
We on the Republican side have waived committee rules frequently
to accommodate this administration and our chairman, as I want
to do. Indeed, had this side not waived the rules 24 times last No-
vember alone, this administration would have had a mere 16
judges confirmed and would have had 12 fewer confirmed judges,
in total, to date.
Notwithstanding the consideration of a Supreme Court nominee
and a heavy committee schedule in June, I think we are in very
good shape at this point, although it has taken diligent efforts by
both staffs, and I want to compliment Senator Biden's staff as well
as the staffon the side ofthe minority.
But I will repeat a warning to the Clinton administration that
I often heard Chairman Biden make to Presidents Reagan and
Bush and to their administrations. Don't dump 20, 30, or 40 nomi-
nees on the committee in a short period and expect the committee
to process them so quickly.
I had a wonderful conversation with the President a week ago for
about 20 minutes and I mentioned this to him and he said they
have maybe 60 to send up here. I give him credit for that, and that
is certainly a much better record than what we had in the prior
administration in getting these judgeships filled, but there is no
way we can do it. On the other hand, we will do our best.
I might add that Chairman Biden issued that warning while he
had twice the resources ofthe Republican side. We do have an obli-
gation as the loyal opposition to review carefully nominees to life-
time judicial positions, and we do that fairly and we intend to do
it fairly, and if I ever hear that we have not, I want you to tell me
because I will remedy that quickly. The Constitution does give the
advise and consent duty to the Senate, and we will continue to
move as expeditiously as we can consistent with that duty.
We have asked for some help with regard to detailees that would
really help you, and if you can help us there, that will be a great
help to us. We want bipartisan people who are willing to work hard
to get these judges through for you. We lost our committee inves-
tigator, and that has put us back a little bit, too, but we will do
our best for you on thosejudges.
Personally, General Reno, I have a great deal of respect for you,
and for a number of the others with whom I work regularly down
at the Justice Department. So I hope we can work on some ofthese
problems together. I really am concerned about this Religious Free-
dom Restoration act. I really believe that that is a ridiculous posi-
tion that the administration has taken in that Christian case and
I hope you can get that changed.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you very much. Senator. Let me say for
my co—lleagues that at the last executive mee—ting we had, I indi-
cated ^this is a purely housekeeping matter ^that we would ask
questions based on the first-come rule, the first to arrive, and we
will do that. After the General's statement, we will have rounds of
questions for 10 minutes.
Senator Grassley. I don't have an opening statement, but a clar-
ification ofwhat youjust said.
The Chairman. Sure.
Senator Grassley. It is a perfectly good way to proceed. I have
no problem with it, just clarification because there are variations
