KENNEDY, JEFFRIES INTRODUCE CITIZEN JUSTICE RESTORATION ACT

 

Civil rights reforms would give citizens standing in environmental justice cases, prevent discriminatory search & seizure, among other critical improvements

 

Washington, DC -- Congressman Joe Kennedy III and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, introduced the Citizen Justice Restoration Act, which will fortify individual civil rights in our civil and criminal justice systems, in areas ranging from environmental justice to individual privacy and unlawful search and seizure. 

 

The legislation will address gaps created or exposed in modern American civil rights law that threaten the rights of individual citizens to seek redress in our justice system.

 

“American civil rights demand an activist government that will be relentless, over generations, in its quest for equal justice,” said Kennedy. “It’s not enough to pass a bill and be done. Despite seminal advances in civil rights law over the past sixty years, a conservative Supreme Court tilt has slowly winnowed away the broad protections originally envisioned by Congress. The Citizen Justice Restoration Act will remedy this imbalance in our scales and restore the rights of any individual to have a voice in our system of justice.”

 

 "In our long march toward a more perfect union, we must ensure that justice delayed is not justice denied," said Jeffries. "The Citizen Justice Restoration Act will ensure that every single American can seek redress in our judicial system and are protected equally under the law. I thank my friend, Congressman Kennedy, for introducing this critical piece of legislation to continue bending the arc toward justice." 

 

The Citizen Justice Restoration Act would specifically:

•    Prevent evidence collected during a search or seizure occurring solely on the basis of a person’s race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, or sex (including gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation) from admission in a court action;

•    Ensure prisoners held in violation of their Constitutional rights can access the courts whenever there is an incorrect decision and ensuring new Constitutional rules recognized by the courts apply retroactively;

•    Require courts construe civil rights protections broadly, including those rights in the Constitution and federal statutes such as the right to free speech and press, privacy of one’s personal information, environmental protections, and consumer rights;

•    Prohibit the courts from avoiding tough Constitutional questions and slowly winnowing away and limiting legal protections; 

•    Protect the private rights of action of American citizens under federal law; and 

•    Create nominal property interests in environmental suits to ensure cases are not thrown out of court on procedural issues.
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