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GOP Senators Blocking DNA Reform Bill

In an editorial today, the Washington Post castigates Congress for continuing to stall passage of the DNA reform bill that was to be the Innocence Protection Act in a former incarnation.

YOU WOULDN'T think that what's left of Sen. Patrick J. Leahy's Innocence Protection Act could spark much controversy. A few years ago, when Mr. Leahy started pushing legislation to encourage post-conviction DNA testing at the state and federal level and improve the woeful quality of counsel in death penalty cases, the measure had real teeth. Now, however, compromise upon compromise has left the Innocence Protection Act, which has been merged with a bipartisan package with President Bush's initiative to reduce the backlog of physical evidence awaiting DNA testing, a shadow of its former self. The House passed the DNA legislation by a lopsided vote, 357 to 67, last year. Yet the Bush administration continues to oppose the Innocence Protection Act, and last week the Senate Judiciary Committee's conservative members, led by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), managed to stall the larger bill of which it is a part, the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act. Though the committee is scheduled to continue marking up that bill today, and though it would clearly command majority support in the full Senate, it is far from clear that the bill will ultimately get to a vote.

It is a reflection of a sorry political reality that this is the best that Congress can do by way of protecting innocent people from wrongful conviction and execution. But given all of the people who have been freed from death row or long prison sentences based on DNA evidence of their innocence, it is hard to imagine that anyone -- let alone the Justice Department -- can still oppose offering states money to make post-conviction testing easier and trial counsel better.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chief architect of the original Innocence Protection Act issued this statement today. Conservative Republican senators are blocking passage of the modified DNA reform bill. They include Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ) and Jeff Sessions (AL).

Full information on the Act and its history is available on Sen. Leahy's website here.

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