Judiciary

Civil Rights

Senator Kennedy believes that civil rights remains America’s great unfinished business, and he has been had a major role in every civil rights battle that has taken place in Congress for over 40 years. He is strongly committed to ensuring civil rights protections for minorities, women, the disabled, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender member of our society, and those seeking religious liberty.

Senator Kennedy gave his first major speech on the Senate floor in support of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations.

In the 1980s, Kennedy worked with a bipartisan group of Senators and Coretta Scott King to establish a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor, Senator Kennedy led the fight to restore full application of key laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, disability or age in federally funded programs. (The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988 strengthened Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Age Discrimination Act.) He helped ensure passage of the law by overwhelming margins, despite a Presidential veto. After successfully steering the bill through committee, Ralph Neas, former Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), said about Kennedy, “Now you see what happens when you have a civil rights champion in charge of the committee.”

Senator Kennedy was one of the chief sponsors of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which ensures that millions of disabled Americans are able to live productive lives free from discrimination in public accommodations and employment. Under the ADA public facilities must accommodate the needs of disabled Americans, and employers must make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers. Plaintiffs were not able to obtain damages for violation of the Act, but this problem was corrected in the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

Senator Kennedy was the chief sponsor of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which strengthened existing protections and remedies available under federal civil rights laws, including provision of remedies for intentional discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

Since 1994, Senator Kennedy has been the chief Senate sponsor of the Employment Non Discrimination Act, which prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

Senator Kennedy has long been a leader in seeking to broaden federal hate crimes law. In 2007, he helped led the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act to passage in the Senate. The bill would broaden existing law to prohibit hate crimes against women, gays, lesbians, and transgender persons, and gives prosecutors enhanced ability to charge and penalize those who commit hate crimes. In 2009, the Senate again adopted the measure as part of the Defense Authorization Bill which is now headed into conference with the House. With the support of President Obama, Senator Kennedy is working to see that this long-overdue legislation is finally enacted into law.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 provided punitive and compensatory damages in cases of intentional job discrimination. Those damages were limited, however, to a combined maximum of $300,000, depending on the size of the workers’ employer. Senator Kennedy is the chief sponsor of the Equal Remedies Act, which would remove those caps.

In 2008, Senator Kennedy is the key Senate sponsor of the Civil Rights Act of 2008, which would restore core civil rights protections that have been undermined by recent Supreme Court decisions --- including the right to challenge the uses of federal funds in ways that have an unjustified discriminatory impact based on race, national origin, age, gender, or disability. The bill also makes state employers fully accountable for discriminating against men and women in uniform, and prohibits employers from requiring workers to give up the right to enforce employment laws in court in order to get a job or keep a job.

Affirmative Action

Since the 1960s, Senator Kennedy has been a leader in congressional efforts to preserve federal affirmative action programs. In 1998, he helped defeat a proposal to end federal affirmative action. In 2003, he joined Senate colleagues in filing a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold affirmative action at the University of Michigan. In 2005, he strongly supported reauthorization of programs administered by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense to ensure equal contracting opportunities for minority and women contractors.

Civil Rights Oversight

Senator Kennedy has had a key role in oversight of federal enforcement of civil rights, particularly the role of the Civil Rights Division. Together with Senator Biden, he has led an investigation into the work of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Gender Equity

Senator Kennedy has been a champion of the Equal Rights Amendment for over 30 years, which would enshrine in the Constitution the principle of equality for men and women. He was in the forefront of Senate leadership that won its passage in Congress in 1972 and has reintroduced the legislation again in the 110th Congress.

He was a key supporter of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, which protect women from discrimination in educational institutions and have increased athletic opportunities for young women attending colleges and universities around the country.

He led the effort to pass the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978. Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act covered gender discrimination, employers -- including states and localities -- were crafting health plans that excluded disabilities arising from pregnancy. The Supreme Court later upheld the constitutionality of excluding pregnancy coverage from health plans provided by states and private employers.

Religious Freedom

Together with Senator Hatch, Senator Kennedy led the way in passing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993. The legislation restored strict scrutiny for certain religious free exercise claims. The legislation was in response to the Supreme Court decision -- Oregon v. Smith in 1989, which invalidated the use of strict scrutiny in cases involving acts by governments which had the unintentional effect of violating an individual’s right to free exercise of his or her religion. After the legislation passed overwhelmingly in the House and the Senate, the Supreme Court determined that portions of Act were unconstitutional. In response to the Supreme Court decision, in 2000, Senators Kennedy and Hatch won passage of a new law to protect religious freedom, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which has been unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court.

Criminal Justice

As a former prosecutor and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee since 1963, Senator Kennedy’s efforts to fight crime have been instrumental in ensuring safer communities for our people.

He has fought to protect Americans from crime and to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children. For example, he has supported every major gun-safety initiative since the Gun Control Act of 1968, including the ban on assault weapons, the Brady Law, and ongoing efforts to close the gun-show loophole. Kennedy also stood up to Attorney General John Ashcroft for touting the line of the NRA and refusing to allow the FBI to examine background-check records to determine whether any of the 1,200 people detained following the September 11th attacks bought guns.

Kennedy strongly opposes the death penalty. His opposition is a matter of principle, based on his understanding of the stark racial disparities involved, the lack of competent legal representation in many cases, and the unacceptable danger that an innocent person may be executed. Senator Kennedy has held to his convictions on capital punishment even when it cost him politically and even in the most personal of circumstances. In 1969, he and his sisters wrote the district attorney of Los Angeles, asking that the killer of their brother Robert not be sentenced to death.

Kennedy has long championed “truth in sentencing”: the idea that prisoners should serve their sentences in full. To this end, working in the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1970's and 80's, Kennedy implemented a comprehensive reform of the federal criminal code which abolished parole for federal prisoners.

Kennedy’s legislation also created a system of guidelines that sets narrow sentencing ranges based on the characteristics of each offender and offense. Prior to this reform, different judges had handed out widely varying sentences for similar offenses. With no predictability or consistency in punishment, criminals saw sentencing as a game of chance, not their just desserts. Since this monumental reform, Kennedy has vigorously fought efforts to impose mandatory minimum sentences. By overlooking differing degrees of culpability, the “one size fits all” approach of mandatory minimum sentences produces the very disparities that the sentencing guidelines were designed to eliminate.

Kennedy has been active in promoting federal support for state and local crime control activities since the original Safe Street and Crime Control Act of 1968. He was a leader in passage of the 1994 Crime Act, which provided funding for 100,000 new police officers, imposed strict new penalties for crimes involving gangs and firearms, and authorized the Police Corps, a program that gives talented young people college scholarships in return for their commitment to serve as police officers in their communities. As a result of this law, Massachusetts has received funds to hire almost 3,000 new police officers over the last 7 years to help combat crime across the state, and last year, the Massachusetts Police Corps graduated its first class of community patrol officers. Since the passage of this bill, the Massachusetts crime rate has dropped by nearly one-third, due in part to the additional officers and resources provided in the ‘94 Crime Bill.

Deregulation

In 1978, Kennedy led the fight for deregulation of the airline industry, enabling airlines to get their own fares and driving down costs for passengers. In the years before passage of the deregulation bill, Kennedy held a series of hearings to highlight the benefits of deregulation and its ability to reduce costs for travelers.

Immigration

Senator Kennedy’s first major legislative initiative was the Immigration Act of 1965. The Act was a turning point in American immigration policy because it reformed the way immigrants were selected for admission to the U.S. It ended the selection of immigrants on the basis of their national origin that began in 1924 – a system that discriminated on the basis of race or ancestry. The Act gradually phased out the national origin quotas system and replaced it with a preference system that gave priority to immigrants based on their skills and family relationships. The circumstances which led to the repeal of the quota system were a combination of changing public perceptions, politics, and legislative compromise. Public support for the repeal reflected changing public attitudes towards race and national origin. The Act was a product of the mid-sixties, and a heavily Democratic 89th Congress which produced major civil rights legislation. In a floor statement reflecting on why Congress acted in 1965, Senator Kennedy stated that a consensus had developed which “neutralized opposition” in and out of Congress and “generated an atmosphere receptive to reform which was consonant with changing attitudes among our citizens on questions of race and national origin.” When asked about the Act’s anticipated impact, he stated that “favoritism based on neutrality will disappear. Favoritism based on individual worth and qualifications will take its place.”

Senator Kennedy has demonstrated consistent concern for refugees throughout his career in the Senate, addressing the needs of such diverse migration challenges as the starving refugees in Ethiopia and the Sudan, the plight of Southeast Asian boat people, those facing oppression under the former Soviet Union and other repressive regimes, those fleeing the civil wars in Central America or the coups in Haiti, as well as those uprooted by more recent conflicts throughout Africa. He has authored numerous bills, including the Refugee Act of 1980 which established a comprehensive U.S. policy to provide humanitarian assistance, admission and resettlement to refugees around the world. Until the bill’s enactment, U.S. policy and programs for refugees had been ad hoc, inadequate and at times discriminatory. During debate on final passage of the bill, Senator Kennedy stated that the Act would “ensure greater equity in our treatment of all refugees and give “statutory meaning to our national commitment to human rights and humanitarian concerns.”

Senator Kennedy has long been convinced that legal immigration is good for our country. As such, he has been at the forefront of efforts to improve U.S. immigration policy by sponsoring beneficial legislation and opposing initiatives that are harmful to immigrants and refugees.

In 1986, Senator Kennedy worked to obtain legal status for undocumented workers and address the potential for increased employment discrimination against immigrant workers as a result of the employer sanction provisions. He was the lead sponsor of the Immigration Act of 1990, which increased the quotas for family immigration, established a diversity visa program, and created a temporary safe haven program for persons fleeing oppressive governments. He was also an original sponsor of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act and its re-authorization in 2000, which allows battered immigrant women and children to apply for permanent residence without the cooperation of their abusive spouses or parents.

He strongly opposed the harsh 1996 immigration laws, which have divided families, returned refugees to the hands of their persecutors, and denied immigrants their day in court, as well as the 1996 welfare law that turned immigrants into second class citizens, and he continues to work to eliminate the harshest provisions of these laws. His goal is to preserve families, assure fairness and due process, and maintain the integrity of our immigration laws. Senator Kennedy believes that immigrants deserve the same due process protections available to U.S. citizens, and that it is contrary to basic principles of fairness and justice to take immigrants from their U.S. citizen families, without even an opportunity to have their day in court.

He has also helped lead the way in efforts to restore fairness and justice to immigrants and refugees. Senator Kennedy’s support was instrumental in restoring public benefits, such as Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid, to countless elderly, disabled, and minor legal immigrants. He continues to push for the further restoration of benefits to all legal immigrants.

He was the lead Democratic sponsor of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act of 2002, which balanced strong enforcement with strong protection of civil liberties and immigrants’ rights. The bill strengthened the security of our borders, improved our ability to screen foreign nationals, and enhanced our ability to deter potential terrorists, while also reaffirming our tradition as a nation of immigrants.

Senator Kennedy has introduced a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill to fix the nation’s broken immigration system. The McCain-Kennedy bill contains strict border security and enforcement provisions to strengthen security at the nation’s borders, and also includes an earned legalization program for immigrants who have been working in the United States. In addition, it offers a solution to reduce the enormous backlog of petitions to unify immigrant families, and proposes a revised temporary worker program.

Citizenship

Senator Kennedy has been a strong proponent of a functioning and effective naturalization program that gives immigrants and refugees the opportunity to fully embrace their adopted homeland by becoming U.S. citizens. He urged U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to work together to eliminate backlogs that developed in the naturalization system in 2007 and to ensure that individuals eligible for citizenship would have the opportunity to vote in the 2008 elections.

Administration of Justice

As a member of the Judiciary Committee for over four decades, Senator Kennedy has been a leader in pursuing the quality and fairness of the courts, the administrative agencies, and the Department of Justice. He had a major role in the defeat of three Supreme Court nominees who the Senate believed were not sufficiently committed to protecting rights and liberties. He has monitored the quality and fairness of administrative justice and promoted freedom of information laws requiring transparency in federal government activities. He has been a leader in the aggressive oversight of the agencies that should protect civil rights, civil liberties, and consumer interests. He conducted the first congressional investigation of Watergate in the 1970’s and his other investigations of governmental overreaching and unfairness have resulted in reforms throughout government.

In 1976, Senator Kennedy introduced the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which became law in 1978 and regulates the use of electronic surveillance for national security purposes. It is widely regarded as a landmark statute in national security law. The legislation was designed to allow flexibility in pursuing our enemies, while safeguarding Americans’ right to be free from unwarranted government spying. It is because FISA enhances both security and liberty that it has won such broad support over the years from presidents, members of Congress, and the public alike. Since it came to light in late 2005 that the Bush Administration had been systematically violating FISA in its warrantless domestic surveillance program, Senator Kennedy has fought to expose this abuse and demand accountability.

He was also an outspoken voice against the use of torture, indefinite extralegal detention, and other legal and humanitarian abuses committed by the Bush Administration in its “global war on terror.” In 2005, Senator Kennedy worked with colleagues to pass a ban on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of detainees. In 2007, he introduced a bill to require all U.S. interrogations to comply with Army Field Manual standards, and he continues to fight to rein in the CIA’s renegade “enhanced interrogation” and “extraordinary rendition” programs. Senator Kennedy also introduced and moved through the Judiciary Committee bipartisan legislation to rein in the Administration’s use of the state secrets privilege, by making judicial review of the privilege more regular and more rigorous. Senator Kennedy has consistently pushed back against the Bush Administration’s unprecedented attempts to expand unilateral Executive power; he believes that fidelity to the rule of law and to governmental checks and balances makes America stronger, not weaker, and is essential to winning the battle against terrorism.

Voting Rights

Senator Kennedy was a leader in the passage of the memorable Voting Rights Act of 1965, and a chief sponsor of the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, which led to increased minority representation in Congress and state legislatures, nationwide. He was also a chief sponsor of the Voting Rights Language Assistance Act of 1992, which provides language assistance during the voting process for limited-English proficient Latino, Asian American, and Native American citizens.

In the debate on the Voting Rights Act of 1970, Senator Kennedy was the key sponsor of the amendment that lowered the voting age to18. Previously, it had long been thought that the change had to be accomplished by amending the Constitution. But Senator Kennedy persuaded his colleagues that recent Supreme Court decisions on voting rights allowed Congress to act by statute under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The Supreme Court upheld the statute for federal elections, but not for state elections. In the wake of the Court’s decision, a constitutional amendment was quickly approved by Congress to lower the voting age to 18 for state elections as well.

In his remarks referring to a slogan on the popularity of the Vietnam War protests at the time, Senator Kennedy said, “I think one of the significant arguments for a finding by Congress that the voting age should be lowered is that if young people are old enough to fight, they are old enough to vote.”

In 1973 and 1974, Senator Kennedy was a key leader in the battle for campaign finance reform. With Senate Republican Leader Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, he sponsored legislation which passed the Senate calling for public financing of Senate and House elections, but it was rejected by the House.

Senator Kennedy was the lead Senate sponsor of a Constitutional amendment in 1978 to grant full voting representation in the Senate and the House of Representatives for citizens of the District of Columbia. The amendment passed both chambers of Congress, but fell short of ratification by two-thirds of the states.

In 2006, Senator Kennedy helped negotiate reauthorization of the provisions of the Voting Rights Act set to expire in 2007, and chaired hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the need for the reauthorization to keep the Act in force.

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