Sen. Patrick Leahy (LAW ’64, D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, revealed his committee’s plans yesterday for the upcoming term, which center on rebuilding America’s trust by maintaining accountability in the future, as well as addressing the problematic issues of the past.

In an event called “Restoring Trust in the Justice System: The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Agenda in the 111th Congress,” Leahy spoke in the ICC Auditorium as part of the Marver H. Bernstein Symposium on Governmental Reform, which was founded to address the restoration of public trust in America’s justice system. The committee plans to look at what needs to be accomplished in the future and what needs to be done to address the failings of the immediate past, Leahy said.

He added that the Senate Judiciary Committee will also play a vital role in filling the over 60 vacancies in federal courts.

“[This role depends on] the quality and temperament of the public trust in our justice system, which has long been the envy of the world,” he said. “If you don’t have trust in the judiciary in this country, everything else breaks down.”

Leahy said that to build this trust, the committee plans to work to strengthen anti-corruption laws, pass personal data protection legislation and improve the Freedom of Information Act, which mandates the full or partial disclosure of government documents by government agencies upon request.

Despite the seemingly formidable size of the committee’s agenda, Leahy said he is optimistic, emphasizing the progress the Senate Judiciary Committee has made in the past.

“We have come from a time, just five decades ago, when the Senate Judiciary Committee was a place where civil rights bills were sent to die to a day where it is a place where we work to fulfill the promise of equal opportunity in our nation’s founding documents,” he said.

Leahy also applauded the recent appointment of Attorney General Eric Holder.

“He’s committed to restoring the rule of law and, as President Obama said in his inaugural address, `to reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,'” Leahy said.

The chairman also maintained that the committee will continue to address the past even as it moves forward.

“[The committee] shouldn’t abandon seeking ways to provide accountability for what’s happened in the past during a dangerous and disastrous diversion in American law and values,” he said. “[We] will work with the Obama administration to fix those parts of the government that went off course.”

To this end, Leahy spoke of a moderate course of action that falls between taking no investigative efforts with regards to recent government failings and seeking numerous prosecutions against members of past administrations. He suggested creating a “truth commission,” a group of individuals to gather facts and invite others to share their knowledge of what happened in the recent past, especially in the previous administration – not to initiate indictments but simply to determine the truth of the situation.

“Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened, and sometimes the best way to move forward is to find out the truth, find out what happened,” Leahy said. “And we do that to make sure that it never happens again.”

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