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Right Turn has obtained the first oversight letter from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued to the Justice Department. While he was in the minority, Smith labored, largely unsuccessfully, on the committee to convince the Democratic chairman to investigate a range of issues, including detainee policy and New Black Panther Party case. He now has the authority to schedule hearings, call witnesses and subpoena documents. In a five-page letter, Smith notes that there has been "little oversight" as to how the civil rights division has used its budget increases ($22 million in FYI 2010 and $17 million requested...

When Republicans take control of the House of Representatives next month, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith of San Antonio will become the GOP point person on immigration as chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee. Smith will shelve immigration reform proposals and scrutinize how the Obama administration has enforced laws. "I’m sure my name is taken in vain sometimes," the veteran congressman says.

The new leaders in the U.S. house may open official investigations into the New Black Panthers case and President Obama’s job offer to Joe Sestak. On the day after the GOP took control of the House, two Republican leaders openly critical of Obama will have subpoena power as the heads of two powerful House committees. Lamar Smith of Texas will oversee the House judiciary committee and Darrel Issa of California will chair the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Both men have been critical of the Justice Department’s handling of the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case in Philadelphia, and...

New House Judiciary Chairman to Obama: Prepare for InvestigationsVeteran Congressman will head influential House Judiciary Committee By Jim Forsyth Thursday, November 4, 2010 The San Antonio Congressman who is in line to become chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee is promising 'a number of investigations and oversight committee actions' which he vows will 'hold the administration accountable,’ 1200 WOAI news reports. Veteran Republican Lamar Smith, a Yale graduate and social conservative who grew up in the brush country of south Texas which is now transit point for illegal immigrants and drugs, said in a news conference that a number...

For several years, Mexico has been solving their own unemployment problem by sending their jobless citizens to the United States. The result has been a low, steady rate of unemployment in Mexico since 2000. Of course, the unimpeded flow of cheap labor headed north, has had a disastrous effect on U.S. workers. Consider the following facts: -Between 1991-1999, Mexico had an average unemployment rate of 3.7 percent. Now, as economies around the world are falling apart and experiencing record joblessness, Mexico still has a relatively low unemployment rate of 5.5 percent (July 2010). -While the U.S. currently has an anemic...

Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas) accused the administration of being too lax in its enforcement of drug laws. President Obama's drug policies are encouraging increased marijuana use, a top Republican lawmaker charged Tuesday. Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas), the top Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee who would likely become chairman of the committee under a GOP majority, accused the administration of being too lax in its enforcement of drug laws. "The administration is clearly sending the message that they don't think it's bad to use marijuana," Smith said on Fox News. "So they're encouraging the use of marijuana. And that...

The congressman asks that the special counsel also look into "whether the Department has adopted a policy of enforcing voting rights laws in a racially discriminatory manner." On the heels of the public statements, sworn testimony, and articles published by DOJ whistleblower J. Christian Adams here at PJM, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) today released a four-page letter he sent to President Obama requesting he commence an independent investigation into the New Black Panther case dismissal.Smith writes: If [Adams'] allegations are true, it means that the Justice Department has become politicized and only an independent entity can effectively investigate this matter.…Had...

When naturalized U.S. citizen Faisal Shahzad was arrested for his terror plot to detonate a bomb in Times Square, it exposed more than the ongoing attempts by international terror organizations to attack America...The arrest was another in a long line of examples that demonstrate the need to secure our nation’s borders and enforce our nation’s immigration laws to keep terrorists from entering the US. For years, we’ve known that strong border security is a fundamental component of national security. The Times Square bomber was able to gain U.S. citizenship because a background check failed to identify him as a threat....

Immigration: An Arizona official asks a good question: If California wants to boycott Arizona over the way it enforces federal law, what about the electricity California gets from there? The problem with righteous indignation is that when others call you on it and tell you to put your money where your mouth is, it can cause an embarrassing leak in your hot air balloon. Gary Pierce, a commissioner on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission, has done just that, calling the bluff of the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Pierce wrote Villaraigosa a letter saying in essence that...

A recent Rasmussen Reports survey revealed that voters remain concerned about Social Security and whether the system can deliver what the government has promised. According to the survey, 58% of U.S. voters lack confidence that the Social Security system will pay them their future benefits. Advocates for amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants like to claim that amnesty will "save" Social Security. They also claim that dramatically increased immigration levels will safeguard our retirements and those of our children because more people will pay into the system. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. During the last Congress, I asked the Social...

"Take AIM" radio show scheduled for Thursday, April 22, at 11:00 am Eastern: Award-winning investigative TV reporter Jayna Davis, who covered the Oklahoma City bombing for NBC affiliate KFOR-TV, discusses the 15th anniversary of OKC and her book, "The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing." Representative Lamar Smith, a Republican serving the 21st District of Texas, joins Take AIM to discuss media bias and the Media Fairness Caucus he chairs. Accuracy in Media analyst Roger Aronoff hosts.

Blaming the Obama administration for failing to enforce immigration laws, a group of House lawmakers formed a caucus on Friday to "reclaim American jobs." Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, is chairman of the 40-member Reclaim American Jobs Caucus made up of mostly Republican lawmakers. Eight Texas Republicans are part of the effort but only one, Rep. Michael McCaul, represents the Houston area. Other members of the caucus, however, attacked immigration reform proposals, including a bipartisan plan unveiled by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Although the Schumer-Graham proposal calls for increased worksite enforcement, a national biometric ID...

Justice: A leaked memo exposes the hypocrisy of those who opposed indefinite detention of terrorists without trial at Guantanamo. For the right price, they're willing to hold detainees without trial indefinitely in America's heartland. The plan to ship as many as 100 unidentified terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay to a little used prison in Thomson, Ill., a sleepy town of 450 people near the Mississippi River about 150 miles west of Chicago, is well under way, according to a Justice Department memo unearthed by Andrew Breitbart and biggovernment.com. The memo allegedly from Eric Holder's Department of Justice to Defense Secretary...

Over the past couple of weeks, the White House has piled on the Fox News Channel, with a trio of high-ranking administration officials publicly criticizing it, followed by words from President Barack Obama himself about Fox News and topped off with the White House attempting to exclude Fox from the White House press pool. That has some members of Congress questioning why they are doing this.. Earlier, Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., took on the issue and defended Fox and its audience. However, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, also took on the White House and questioned why it would be something Obama...

The latest count shows ACORN under investigation in 20 states, its employees were charged with more than 50 counts of “election-related fraud,” and that ACORN has spent more than $1 million on restitution to avoid criminal prosecutions (although the Louisiana AG says that number is closer to $5 million).The is more than enough evidence to show that ACORN is corrupt throughout its vast organization and in so many ways. For weeks these pages have been calling for a special prosecutor.We cannot rely on the the politically appointed Democratic Party-led justice department to run an investigation, especially when you consider the...

A top-ranking Republican lawmaker is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). In a letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and obtained by The Hill on Monday, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) argues that President Barack Obama’s political ties to the scandal-plagued community-activist group and its affiliates will “taint” any potential Justice Department investigations. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has not announced whether it has launched a probe of ACORN, but Smith said any such investigation could be compromised. “I am very concerned that the president’s previous...

According to sources, Rep. Frank Wolf R.Va. and Rep. Lamar Smith R-Tx received a letter today from the Dept. of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility (DOJ) about the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense ( NBP), which was mysteriously dismissed by the DOJ after President Obama took office. Questions about this unusual dismissal have been asked by Messrs. Wolf ...

SCHERTZ – What at times had been a rowdy and loud crowd was also a largely civil crowd only shouting down each other at a few times, that was until the end of the meeting. As people began to file out of the Schertz Civic Center, two people on opposite sides of the health care issue got into a shoving match that police were forced to break up. According to police, a man that had disrupted the meeting by shouting at people opposed to the health care plan was push from behind; when he turned to push back he ended...

... It is therefore surprising that in the first seven months of the Obama administration, a series of hyper-partisan decisions, questionable appointments, and the inexplicable dismissal of a high-profile voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther party have once again fanned suspicions that the Justice Department is a pawn in partisan political battles. ... Sitting in his Capitol Hill office, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, speaks in careful, clipped sentences, rephrasing at times to convey precisely what he means. His irritation is apparent. "The whole concern here is an administration that would...

It’s an old device in politics: Set up a straw man to criticize when you can’t win an argument on your own. Such tactics, unfortunately, are standard fare when it comes to efforts by a handful of special interest groups to bring about amnesty for illegal immigrants. Organizations such as the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Migration Policy Institute know that most Americans disagree with their desire for amnesty. Most Americans want to see immigration laws enforced. So these groups create straw...