Dick Durbin

Bipartisan Senators Request GAO Audit of DOJ Handling of Epstein Files

| Importance: 8/10

On March 11, 2026, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators – Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) – sent a formal letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown of the U.S. Government Accountability Office requesting an audit of …

U.S. Senate Dick Durbin Ben Ray Lujan Jeff Merkley Lisa Murkowski +3 more doj-politicization epstein-files congressional-oversight institutional-capture accountability
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Noem Faces Bipartisan Senate Rebuke as Tillis Calls Her Leadership "A Disaster"

| Importance: 9/10

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3, 2026 for her first major oversight hearing since the deaths of two U.S. citizens killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. The nearly four-hour session produced extraordinary bipartisan …

Kristi Noem Thom Tillis John Kennedy Dick Durbin Cory Booker +3 more congressional-oversight institutional-accountability immigration-enforcement operation-metro-surge bipartisan-opposition +3 more
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Senators Durbin and Lee Reintroduce Bipartisan SAFE Act to Reform FISA Surveillance

| Importance: 7/10

Senate Judiciary Committee members Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) reintroduced the bipartisan Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act on February 11, 2026, seeking major reforms to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before its April 20, 2026 expiration. The bill …

Dick Durbin Mike Lee Senate Judiciary Committee surveillance civil-liberties fourth-amendment legislation
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12 Bipartisan Senators Demand Inspector General Audit of DOJ Epstein Files Compliance

| Importance: 8/10

Twelve bipartisan senators write to DOJ Acting Inspector General Don Berthiaume demanding an audit of the Department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The letter is led by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), with additional …

Richard Blumenthal Lisa Murkowski Jeff Merkley Chuck Schumer Amy Klobuchar +5 more epstein-network congressional-oversight doj-obstruction bipartisan inspector-general
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Trump Pardons Former Honduran President Convicted of Drug Trafficking

| Importance: 10/10

President Trump formally pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving a 45-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Federal prosecutors had documented that Hernández facilitated the movement of approximately 400 tons of …

Donald Trump Juan Orlando Hernández Tim Kaine Dick Durbin Roger Stone +1 more pardon drug-policy foreign-policy corruption central-america +2 more
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Attorney General Bondi Testifies Before Senate Amid Accusations of DOJ Weaponization

| Importance: 8/10

On October 7, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a contentious oversight hearing marked by sharp Democratic criticism of the Justice Department’s targeting of President Trump’s political opponents. The hearing came one day before former …

Pam Bondi Senate Judiciary Committee Department of Justice Dick Durbin Richard Blumenthal +1 more doj congressional-oversight political-prosecution institutional-capture weaponization +1 more
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Congressional Hearing Exposes Systematic Judicial Intimidation Tactics

| Importance: 9/10

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a critical hearing investigating unprecedented threats to judicial independence in 2025, documenting rising levels of violence, intimidation, disinformation, and defiance of lawful court judgments. Testimony revealed a disturbing pattern of physical threats, …

Senate Judiciary Committee Chief Justice John Roberts U.S. Marshals Service Supreme Court Justices Dick Durbin +5 more judicial-intimidation constitutional-crisis judicial-independence congressional-oversight threats-to-democracy
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Senate Judiciary Subpoenas Harlan Crow Over Thomas Gifts After Resistance

| Importance: 8/10

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on November 9, 2023, to issue subpoenas to Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo, demanding documentation about gifts provided to Supreme Court justices after both men refused voluntary cooperation with the Committee’s ethics investigation. Committee Chairman Dick …

Senate Judiciary Committee Dick Durbin Harlan Crow Clarence Thomas Leonard Leo congressional-oversight judicial-corruption investigation subpoena ethics-crisis
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Trump Calls Haiti and African Nations 'Shithole Countries' in Bipartisan Immigration Meeting

| Importance: 8/10

During a bipartisan meeting with senators in the Oval Office to discuss immigration, President Trump asked why the United States would want people from ‘shithole countries’ while being briefed on changes to the visa lottery system. Trump questioned why America would want immigrants from …

Donald Trump Dick Durbin U.N. Human Rights Office African Union racial-politics immigration republican-party xenophobia institutional-racism +2 more
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