William S. Cohen Papers | Senate Judiciary Committee Records

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MS 106.3.3.15 Judiciary Committee 1979-1996 19 boxes

William Cohen was a member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993-1995, and served on its subcommittees on Juvenile Justice and Courts & Administrative Practice. Records in this subseries reflect not only his work on the Judiciary Committee, but his involvement with other issues related to the Federal judicial process as well. The bulk of the files in this group were created by Kim Corthell, who also worked with Cohen on the Committee on Governmental Affairs. Other staff members who contributed to the files in this group are James Dykstra, David Schanzer, Patricia Bassey, Tracey Carnes, Marshall Kofler, and Steven Higgins.

Files are arranged alphabetically. Subjects under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee which are represented here include anti-trust issues, bankruptcy, court secrecy, qui tam suits (suits initiated by private citizens), civil rights, class action lawsuits, crime, drugs, immigration reform, the North American Free Trade Agreement, religious expression in schools, stalking, terrorism, gun control, and violence (as related to gangs, video games, song lyrics, and against women). The Judiciary Committee also conducts confirmation hearings for Presidential nominations for Supreme Court justices, court of appeals judges, and district court judges, and material related to several confirmation hearings may be found here.
Significant legislation represented in these files includes · A bill sponsored by Cohen in 1992 designed to protect victims of stalking (S. 2922). This legislation became law in the 1993 Commerce, Judiciary, State and Justice Appropriations bill. · The Violence Against Women Acts of 1991 (S. 15) and 1993 (S. 11). Both co-sponsored by Senator Cohen, these bills were designed to combat violent crimes against women on the streets and in the homes. · The Protecting Class Action Plaintiffs Act of 1995 (S. 1501). This was a bill introduced by Cohen to address the growing trend of settlements in class action lawsuits that promote the interests of the plaintiffs' attorneys to a greater extent than the plaintiffs themselves. · The Judiciary Committee also debated aspects of legislation on immigration reform (S. 269, the Immigration Control Act of 1995) and court secrecy (S. 1404, 1994).

Records consist of hearing material (briefing memos to Cohen from his aides, questions Cohen asked witnesses, and statements of Cohen and witnesses), reports on a variety of subjects from Congressional Research Service and other sources, and Cohen's correspondence with colleagues, constituents, and the Department of Justice. There is also a small group of files on women's issues, not all of which were handled by the Judiciary Committee.

Access to some of the records in this sub series is restricted until 2017. Consult the Special Collections Department for further information.


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Revised: 03/19/2019