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Joe Biden possible presidential campaign, 2016/Federalism
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 Joe Biden |
Vice President of the United States (2009-2017) U.S. Senator (1973-2009) |
 Democratic candidates: |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
Judiciary
| Biden defends the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court in May 2010. |
- In 2010, Joe Biden applauded the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court in an interview with Harry Smith of CBS, saying, "They're getting a woman who is practical, a woman who is committed, a woman who is open-minded, and a woman who does what judges are supposed to do, listen to both sides of the argument. And I do know her, she used to work for me on the Judiciary Committee years ago, when we were both a lot younger. She's still young. And I do know her and she has an exemplary record, Harry, and she's a tenured professor at Chicago, left to go work for the government, then became Dean of Harvard Law School, the first woman in the history of that great institution, and she left to become solicitor general. And she's now what everybody calls the tenth Supreme Court Justice, solicitor general." Biden added, "There are a number of really incredible justices who have never been prosecutors, never been a judge, never been a public defender."[1]
- Following Sonia Sotomayor's nomination in 2009, Biden suggested she would be supportive of law enforcement in her new role. This comment drew criticism from John Wesley Hall, the president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, who said, "To say that a judge ‘has your back’ is an activist judge. They’re raising doubts for everybody who’s concerned about the Bill of Rights."[2]
- In 2005, Biden voted against the nominations of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito.[3][4]
- In 1993 and 1994, Biden voted to confirm the nominations of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.[5][6]
- Biden was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings of Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991. Biden declined to include Anita Hill's allegations of sexual misconduct against Thomas in the public hearing. According to Jill Abramson and Jane Mayer, authors of Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas, Biden had "tried to be a statesman, to uphold decency standards," but he later stated he acted "in fairness to Thomas, which in retrospect he didn't deserve."[7][8]
| Biden presides over the confirmation hearing of Robert Bork in 1987. |
- In 1987, Biden presided over the confirmation hearing of Robert Bork. According to The New York Times, "Senator Biden decided to build the hearings around the notion that the Constitution embodies a concept of liberty, including a right to privacy, that goes beyond the rights that are detailed in the text."[9][10]
Government accountability
- In 2007, Joe Biden threatened to impeach President George W. Bush, if he chose to attack Iran without congressional approval.[11]
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- During the 2008 presidential campaign, Joe Biden stated the separation of church and state did not mean the absence of religion from public spaces. Biden explained, "Look, the founders were pretty smart. They had gone through, you know, several hundred years of wars - religious wars. And they were in the midst of religious wars in Europe. And they figured it out: The best way to do this is to keep the government out of religion. They took religion out of government. But they didn't mean religion couldn't be in a public place, in the public square."[12]
- In 1993, Biden supported HR 1308 - Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The law sought to prevent the government "from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion."[13][14]
Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- In January 2013, Joe Biden said he supported the Second Amendment and owned two shotguns, himself, but questioned the necessity for high-capacity ammunition magazines.[15][16]
- Biden described the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School as a "tragic event" that "awaken[ed] the conscience of the country" and added that gun control was a "moral issue."[17]
- In 2005, Biden voted against S 397 - Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The bill, which became law on October 26, 2005 prohibits civil liability for manufacturers and sellers of firearms and ammunition.[18][19]
- In 1993, Biden voted in favor of an amendment to "restrict the manufacture, transfer, and possession of certain semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices."[20][21]
- Biden voted in favor HR 1025 - Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which became law on November 30, 1993, instituted a five-day waiting period before a gun could be purchased and required federal background checks be run on purchasers.[22][23]
Crime and justice
- On September 10, 2015, Joe Biden joined Attorney General Loretta Lynch in New York City to announce nearly $80 million in grants to reduce the number of untested sexual assault kits in 43 jurisdictions across 27 states. Biden said, “For most survivors, seeing their rapists brought to justice, and knowing that they will not return, brings peace of mind and a sense of closure. The grants we’re announcing today to reduce the national rape kit backlog will bring that sense of closure and safety to victims while improving community safety."[24]
- In a press release Biden issued on June 20, 2002, he stated his support for capital punishment with some exceptions. Biden wrote, "As the author of two major federal crime laws that extend the availability of the death penalty to sixty additional crimes, I support capital punishment as a crime-fighting technique. But we must implement the death penalty in a way that is consistent with our values as Americans. Just as we would not execute a 12-year-old, I have long argued that we should not execute a mentally retarded person whose mental capacity might be far more limited. That's why I led the fight in 1990 to oppose the extension of the federal death penalty to mentally retarded persons. Our criminal laws provide a host of penalties to punish mentally retarded criminals, up to and including life imprisonment without parole, and we must continue to use these penalties where appropriate"[25]
- In 1996, Biden cosponsored S 1675 - Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996, which became law on October 3, 1996, and established a national FBI database of sex offenders.[26]
- Biden spearheaded the Violence Against Women Act, which became law in 1994 and "established new federal crimes of interstate domestic violence and stalking, doubled penalties for repeat sex offenders, and sparked the passage of laws at the state level to protect victims."[27]
- In 1993, Biden voted against an amendment to S 1607 - Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1993, which sought to "To provide for imposition of the penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of release rather than imposition of the death penalty."[28][29]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Joe + Biden + Government
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ CBS News, "V.P. Biden on Elena Kagan," May 11, 2010
- ↑ Politico, "Joe Biden pushes envelope with Sonia Sotomayor praise," June 9, 2009
- ↑ Senate.gov, "On the Nomination (Confirmation John G. Roberts, Jr., of Maryland, to be Chief Justice of the United States)," accessed June 3, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "On the Nomination (Confirmation Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of New Jersey, to be an Associate Justice)," accessed June 3, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "On the Nomination (Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Be An Associate Justice)," accessed June 3, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "On the Nomination (Nomination - Stephen G. Breyer)," accessed June 3, 2015
- ↑ LA Times, "The Road to the Confirmation of Clarence Thomas," accessed December 17, 2014
- ↑ The New York Times, "Biden and Anita Hill, Revisited," August 23, 2008
- ↑ Senate.gov, "Congressional Record–Senate, October 23, 1987," accessed June 3, 2015
- ↑ New York Times, “Washington Talk: The Bork Hearings; For Biden: Epoch of Belief, Epoch of Incredulity," October 8, 1987
- ↑ Huffington Post, Joe Biden Warned In 2007 That He'd Impeach Bush For Waging War Without Congressional Approval," March 23, 2011
- ↑ CBS News, “VP Candidates On Church-State Separation," October 1, 2008
- ↑ Congress.gov, "H.R.1308 - Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993," accessed July 15, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Court to review religious law once hailed by Democrats but now used to battle Obamacare," February 2, 2014
- ↑ ABC News, "Biden Confirms Support for Second Amendment, Says He Owns Two Shotguns," January 17, 2013
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Joe Biden Says High-Capacity Gun Magazines A Priority Over Assault Weapons Ban," January 24, 2013
- ↑ CNN, "Biden: Gun effort a 'moral issue'," January 9, 2013
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.397 - Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "S. 397 (Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act)," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.Amdt.1152 to S.Amdt.1151," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "S.Amdt. 1152 to S.Amdt. 1151 to S. 1607 (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1993)," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "H.R.1025 - Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "H.R. 1025 (Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act Federal Firearms License Reform Act of 1993)," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Joe Biden, Loretta Lynch Pledge Millions To Resolve Rape Kit Backlog," September 10, 2015
- ↑ Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, "Biden Statement on Supreme Court Decision on the Execution of Mentally Retarded Individuals," June 20, 2002
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.1675 - Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ WhiteHouse.gov, "About Vice President Biden's Efforts to End Violence Against Women," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.Amdt.1204 to S.1607," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "S.Amdt. 1204 to S. 1607 (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1993)," accessed July 16, 2015
