WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today introduced the Empowering Immigration Courts Act to give immigration judges a tool to stop litigants from drawing out proceedings unnecessarily, which further burdens the immigration system and rewards illegal immigration.

Specifically, the legislation would give immigration judges the same contempt authority federal judges have to punish by fine litigants who misbehave or flout court orders.

“Under President Biden’s watch, America has seen 9 million migrants attempt to cross the southern border. The current court structure can’t process this level of illegal immigration effectively. My bill would give immigration judges a critical tool to help them better manage their overwhelmed dockets and cut down on the backlog of immigration cases,” said Kennedy.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) cosponsored the act.

“Illegal aliens routinely skip their court date and flout our immigration laws. I am proud to cosponsor Senator Kennedy’s bill that helps fix this problem by giving immigration courts the same contempt power as federal district courts. This will allow immigration judges to hold illegal aliens who skip their court dates in contempt and punish them with fines. I call on the Senate to pass this bill that takes a step in the right direction and helps restore order to the immigration court system,” said Cruz.

“As our immigration system continues to be overrun and mismanaged, there is a simple problem Congress can solve today: contempt authority for immigration judges. Presently, these judges do not have the same authority as all other federal judges to discipline trial lawyers for misbehavior. This legislation will give much-needed authority to our immigration judges so they can ensure order in their courtrooms and better manage their dockets,” said Blackburn. 

Background: 

• In 1996, Congress passed a law authorizing the attorney general to issue regulations empowering immigration judges to sanction litigants who misbehave or violate court orders. However, in the nearly three decades since Congress passed the law, no attorney general has issued such regulations. 

• In March 2021, Kennedy first introduced the Empowering Immigration Courts Act so that immigration judges could fine those found to be in contempt of court.

Full text of the Empowering Immigration Courts Act is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) and more than 100 other lawmakers in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States to support Idaho as it defends its Defense of Life Act.

The Biden administration claims to have discovered a new power in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a law that President Ronald Reagan signed, to require doctors to perform certain abortions in violation of many states’ pro-life laws. 

“The Biden administration’s case against Idaho’s Defense of Life Act is the president’s latest scheme to force his radical pro-abortion ideology on all Americans. Idaho requires doctors to protect the lives of mothers and their unborn children, and there’s no legal basis for the Biden administration to try to overrule a law that Idahoans passed democratically,” said Kennedy. 

“Idahoans have passed a strong law to protect the lives of mothers and the unborn, yet the Biden administration is seeking every opportunity to expand abortion. This administration cherrypicked pieces of existing statute and wrongfully reinterpreted it to fit their agenda. Their manipulation of federal law cannot usurp state law, and there is no federal right to an abortion. This amicus brief demonstrates how the administration’s substantial federal overreach is aimed at undermining pro-life protections not only in Idaho but around the nation,” said Risch.

Background:

• EMTALA requires hospitals to provide necessary stabilizing treatment to patients before transferring them to another hospital because of the patient’s inability to pay. 

• The Biden administration claims that EMTALA overrides pro-life state laws and requires doctors to perform abortions in some circumstances. 

• To the contrary, the lawmakers’ amicus brief argues that EMTALA says nothing about abortion and actually requires doctors to provide treatment to both a mother and her unborn child.

• As the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, there is no constitutional right to abortion.

Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Pete Rickets (R-Neb.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) also joined the brief along with more than 93 members of the House of Representatives.

The amicus brief is available here. 

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking and Judiciary Committees, joined Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and 20 other colleagues in filing an amicus brief in American Securities Association v. SEC, a case in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). 

The SEC’s CAT will collect all customer and order information for equity securities and listed options, including data that might be considered personally identifiable information. 

Congress did not authorize the CAT, which leaves investors to pay higher costs for the program while it puts personal information, such as social security numbers and birth dates, at risk of being hacked. 

“More than 158 million Americans invest their hard-earned savings in the stock market, and they trust that their personal information is secure. Despite concerns about recent cyberattacks at federal agencies, the Biden administration is moving forward with its Consolidated Audit Trail—without Congressional authorization. This unconstitutional plan jeopardizes investors’ data and requires them to pay higher fees. The appeals court should stop it before bad actors exploit the CAT to take advantage of Americans,” said Kennedy.

“The SEC never brought this proposal before Congress to request funds because the Biden administration knows the program is a gross overreach that would suck up the personal data of millions of law-abiding Americans. More than that, the SEC has shown it is incapable of safely storing sensitive data. This program needs to be killed before it begins,” said Cotton.

Background:

• In Nov. 2023, Kennedy penned an op-ed highlighting concerns regarding the SEC’s move to store investors’ personally identifiable information through the CAT.

• In July 2023, Kennedy introduced the Protecting Investors’ Personally Identifiable Information Act to protect information that could reveal the identity of American investors. 

Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) signed the brief along with 12 members of the House of Representatives.

The amicus brief is available here.

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $14,389,328 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for New Orleans’ Mirabeau Garden Stormwater Project. 

“New Orleans has suffered from a great deal of flooding over the years. I’m grateful to see this $14.4 million help the city with projects that will protect Louisianians’ homes and businesses from damage,” said Kennedy.

The FEMA aid will fund the following:

• $14,389,328 for the construction of the Mirabeau Garden Stormwater Management Project, including two water retention basins to reduce the load on New Orleans drainage pump stations.