U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Missouri) was made vice chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security on Wednesday.
“The people of St. Louis sent me to Congress to legislate in defense of Black lives and to be a voice for all those who have been dehumanized, displaced, and disregarded,” Bush wrote in a release. “For too long, our criminal-legal system has prioritized incarceration over justice, punishment over rehabilitation, and profit over people. If we want a system that truly delivers justice, we must replace the racism and white supremacy that has dictated our criminal law for decades with radical love and compassion for every person.”
Bush noted that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department continues to lead the nation in police killings per capita and that the city’s path forward “requires leading with love – which means fighting for transformative policies, from decarceration to abolishing the federal death penalty and ending racial wage and health gaps once and for all.”
The subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Federal Criminal Code, drug enforcement, sentencing, parole and pardons, internal and homeland security, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, prisons and criminal law enforcement.
“St. Louis, we have the opportunity to make that change. I’m grateful to Chairman Jerry Nadler, Subcommittee Chairwoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and my colleagues for trusting our movement and trusting me—a proud activist in the fight for Black lives—as a leader on our committee.”
Bush is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. She was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee in mid-December, at which time she said the appointment had been a long-time goal of hers, being something Bush said she aspired to since she first ran for office in 2016.
