We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

A LUMP OF COAL FOR CONGRESS

The House of Representatives held 700 votes in 2023, but managed to pass only 27 bills, a “dramatic productivity decline relative to previous years, even when compared to other eras of divided government,” NPR reported last week.

Yeah, it’s true that generally speaking, “[n]o man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.” (It is not true that Mark Twain originated that chestnut: it really belonged to  Surrogate Judge Gideon J. Tucker, writing in Final Accounting in the Estate of A.B. back in 18660. But “do-nothing” Congresses have been derided before, despite the fact that Truman’s original “do-nothing” Congress was more productive than many and beat the hell out of the 118th.

The New York Times reported that “some Republican lawmakers have expressed frustration at their inability to get things done. ‘If we don’t change the foundational problems within our conference, it’s just going to be the same stupid clown car with a different driver,’ Representative Dusty Johnson of South Dakota vented to reporters in October after Mr. McCarthy’s ouster. But those foundational problems remain.”

For all of those who regularly ask where the EQUAL Act stands, when Congress is going to “fix” 18 USC § 924(c), reinstate the elderly offender home detention program, “do something for sex offenders,” or pass the mythical “65% law” (yeah, I was once again asked about that rumor last Friday), there’s your answer.

NPR, Congress passed so few laws this year that we explained them all in 1,000 words (December 22, 2023)

New York Times, House Dysfunction by the Numbers: 724 Votes, Only 27 Laws Enacted (December 19, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root