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Senators Refuse Condemnation of Lynching

Nicholas Johnson

The Carpetbagger Report:
Reality-Based Commentary, Analysis, and Tirades on Politics in America

[http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/4449.html]

June 19, 2005


[Note: On June 13, 2005, the 100 members of the U.S. Senate were offered the opportunity to co-sponsor and vote for Senate Resolution 39, 109th Congress, essentially apologizing for the Senate's shameful refusal over the years to vote for House-passed laws that would have outlawed the use of lynching. Most chose to do so, 87 of the 100 (including the 8 who thought better of their refusal after the resolution passed by voice vote and received widespread national publicity); 13 continued their refusal even then. The following research was submitted to The Carpetbagger Report, where the issue of who did and did not sponsor the resolution was being discussed.]

See "Thomas" which lists 86 co-sponsors, at

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SE00039:@@@P

and

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

(which lists senators in the 109th Congress).

Comparing the two, there are 13 senators who did not sign on to the resolution (S. 39). They are:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Kay Hutchison (R-TX)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
Of the 87 supporters, 42 signed on during June 2005, four months after the resolution was first circulated (44 signed on in February); 8 signed on after the resolution was voted on:
Sen Conrad, Kent [ND] - 6/14/2005
Sen Voinovich, George V. [OH] - 6/14/2005
Sen Reed, Jack [RI] - 6/14/2005
Sen Murkowski, Lisa [AK] - 6/14/2005
Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] - 6/14/2005
Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] - 6/15/2005
Sen Crapo, Mike [ID] - 6/15/2005
Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] - 6/16/2005
Thus, it's fair to note that the 13 refused to co-sponsor the resolution (a) when circulated in early February, (b) during the intervening months, (c) during early June when a vote was known to be coming up, or even (d) after the vote was taken.

Comment by Nicholas Johnson — 6/19/2005 @ 12:02 pm