Booker gets key Judiciary subcommittee chairmanship

U.S. Senator Cory Booker will chair the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism, giving him jurisdiction over the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The new post allows Booker to continue his pursuit of reforming what he says is the nation’s broken criminal justice system.  That was a cornerstone of his 2020 presidential bid.

“Our nation’s broken criminal justice system is a stain on the soul of our country, the result of decades of failed policies that have broken apart families and communities and have not made us safer,” Booker said. “The burden of this broken system has been disproportionately and dramatically borne by Black and brown Americans, and the poor. It’s past time for change.”

The panel has been renamed for the 117th Congress. It had previously been called the Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism and was chaired by U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri.)

That puts gavels in the hands of both New Jersey senators in an upper house that is now controlled by Democrats.

Bob Menendez recently assumed the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Democrats captured the Senate in January after ousting two Republican senators in Georgia.  The 50-50 split, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tie-breaker.

“Congress has made progress in starting to turn the tide in recent years, and now is a time of great promise,” Booker said. “I look forward to continuing and strengthening my partnership with Chairman Durbin to further advance reforms to our policing and criminal justice system.”

Booker’s subcommittee also has oversight authority over the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and anti-terrorism policy at the Department of Homeland Security.

Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, and the Senate Majority Whip, assumed the Judiciary chairmanship this year after ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein, 87, did not get the post.

Booker says he is the first Black chairman of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.