After the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Congressman Goodlatte posted the following tweet:

And that, apparently, is that. What’s infuriating is that Goodlatte– as chair of the House Judiciary Committee– is in a unique position to do something more.

The Hill reports:

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are calling for an emergency hearing focused on the “unprecedented” white supremacist-inspired violence in the U.S.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel, and Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) sent a letter Monday to Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) asking him to hold a hearing to examine recent hate-inspired violence, saying it is the panel’s duty to look into such matters.

The Democratic lawmakers pointed to three recent incidents from last week: 11 people killed by a gunman in a synagogue in Pittsburgh; more than a dozen explosive devices sent to prominent Democratic political figures; and the deaths of two African-Americans in Kentucky who were shot and killed by a gunman who allegedly tried to carry out a larger-scale attack at a predominately black church.

“In the past week, our nation has borne witness to three acts of terror,” the lawmakers wrote to Goodlatte. “This groundswell of violence includes both the largest attempted mass assassination of prominent political figures in American history and the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in American history. Each of these acts was carried out by an individual understood to espouse white supremacist views.”

“Whether it manifests itself as racism or anti-Semitism or xenophobia, white supremacy is white supremacy,” they added. “In its modern form, it motivates a fluid and particularly virulent form of domestic terrorism. It must be stopped.”

The lawmakers also chided Goodlatte for failing to hold a hearing on the matter sooner, stating that they requested a hearing on white-supremacist violence after the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. last year.

There is a “cost to this inaction,” they wrote, pointing to a rise in incidents of antisemitism in the U.S.
…..
A Republican House Judiciary Committee aide told The Hill that “there are no hearings planned at this time.” The aide also noted that the House passed a resolution this year condemning hate crimes.

(You can read the Democrats’ entire letter here.)

Toothless resolutions are nice. But it seems a serious investigation of the far right’s role in inspiring domestic terrorism is not exactly a priority for many Republicans. So there will be no hearings. And Bob Goodlatte will finish out his 26 years in Congress by once again putting party ahead of country.

Even though he is not running for reelection, and is sitting on a huge pile of campaign cash, Congressman Goodlatte has been rather tight-fisted when it comes to helping his fellow Republicans in the 2018 election.

Politico reports:

House GOP leaders, fearful of the staggering amount of cash fueling Democratic candidates this cycle, are leaning on safe and retiring members to pony up to save the House.

…..

The drive, according to four senior Republican lawmakers and aides, is focused on members with easy reelection campaigns or who are retiring from Congress next year — people sitting on piles of cash that could be used to save vulnerable incumbents. Leaders are targeting some powerful outgoing chairmen, typically the most prolific fundraisers, who haven’t met their annual required “dues” to the [National Republican Congressional Committee], according to multiple sources.

Those in the doghouse include:

…..

• Retiring Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who has $637,000 in his campaign account, has transferred $25,000 from that account and $30,000 from his leadership PAC, much less than what’s expected of chairmen. Last cycle he transferred more than $300,000 from both accounts.

…..

“Our colleagues need money,” said one source… “We’re getting outraised by Democrats and we have members sitting on money.”

As his final term in Congress winds down, Congressman Goodlatte may have developed something like a backbone when it comes to standing up to President Trump.

Very late, but better late than never.

Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) today called on the Trump Administration to consult Congress immediately regarding the refugee ceiling for the coming year as required by law. Earlier this week, Department of State Secretary Mike Pompeo announced the fiscal year 2019 refugee ceiling without having first consulted with Congress.

Congressman Goodlatte: “The law is clear: the Administration must consult with Congress prior to the President’s determination of the annual refugee ceiling. But this did not happen this year, and the Trump Administration has no excuse for not complying with their obligation under the law. There is a real question as to whether the President can even set a number of refugees that carries the weight of law unless it is done after an appropriate consultation with Congress. Leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committee have worked in good faith for weeks to schedule a consultation, and I call on the Trump Administration to provide the Committees with a consultation immediately.

“The Administration’s lack of consultation underscores once again why this process is fundamentally flawed and why the refugee program is in need of reform. Congress, not the President, should set the annual refugee ceiling. The refugee program is currently the only immigration benefit program with an annual limit that is not determined by Congress. Immigration and Border Security Chairman Raul Labrador and I have introduced the Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act, which has been approved by the House Judiciary Committee. This bill, among many other provisions, gives Congress the authority to set the refugee ceiling. The Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act maintains our nation’s generosity toward those in need and prevents bad actors from gaming the system.”

Reacting to the news that FBI agent Peter Strzok has been fired after a contentious Congressional hearing co-chaired by Congressman Goodlatte, Bobby Goodlatte lets us know what he thinks of his father’s actions.

The Washington Post reports:

Aitan Goelman, Strzok’s attorney, said FBI Deputy Director David L. Bowdich ordered the firing Friday, even though the director of the FBI office that normally handles employee discipline had decided Strzok should face only a demotion and 60-day suspension. Goelman said the move undercuts the FBI’s repeated assurances that Strzok would be afforded the normal disciplinary process.

“This isn’t the normal process in any way more than name,” Goelman said, adding in a statement, “This decision should be deeply troubling to all Americans.”

And this from a reporter for Politico:

A message from the son of retiring Republican Congressman Goodlatte:

I hope Congressman Goodlatte is proud of raising a son capable of thinking independently of his father. He should be.

If Congressman Goodllatte took (for him) a critical view of President Trump’s disgraceful performance at the Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin, he has wasted little time scurrying back into line with the White House.

A July 23 editorial in The Washington Post provides details:

The Justice Department on Saturday released the warrant applications that investigators submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court asking for permission to surveil former Trump adviser Carter Page. Mr. Trump and his enablers have made the documents central to their claims of FBI bias in its conduct of the Russia probe. In fact, the documents show that the investigative process was sound and the Republican narrative is paranoid, cynical or both.

Participating in the degradation on Sunday was House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who insisted that “there is a serious problem with the FBI” presenting a warrant application that, he claimed, was based on the so-called Steele dossier, a collection of mostly unverified reports about the behavior of Mr. Trump and his associates. As he echoed this line, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said “the warrant, the FISA warrant process needs to be looked at closely by Congress.”

Mr. Goodlatte is a key overseer of the nation’s legal affairs. Mr. Graham served in the U.S. Air Force JAG Corps. Both should know better than to assist in the trashing of a legitimate federal law enforcement operation.

Goodlatte’s persistent efforts to undercut the FBI investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign are not news to readers of this blog. But at least one Republican with a genuine commitment to the truth has a different take:

“You have an individual here who has openly bragged about his ties to Russia,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said of Mr. Page. “And the FBI’s job is to protect this country from threats. . . . So they look at all this information. They say: We have a guy here who’s always in Russia, brags about Russia, and we have reason to believe — and they list those reasons — why this is someone we should be watching. And they followed the legal process by which to do so.”

… How many Republicans will continue to abet this wanton attack on the Justice Department and the judiciary — on American democracy?

No matter how many, it appears Goodlatte will be among them.

Even though he can’t bring himself to mention Donald Trump by name, this is (as best I recall) Congressman Goodlatte’s first public criticism of the president since the 2016 election.

Watch as Congressman Goodlatte makes a fool of himself with his ultra-partisan badgering of FBI official Peter Strzok at a joint hearing of the House Judiciary Committee (which he chairs) and the House Intelligence Committee.

Goodlatte threatened Strzok with a contempt citation after he declined to answer a question because FBI lawyers had instructed him not to answer any questions about the ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

For months Goodlatte has been on a crusade to portray Strzok as part of an anti-Trump “conspiracy” at the FBI– despite solid evidence to the contrary.

Anyone who thought Goodlatte, once he announced his retirement from Congress, would feel less obligated to take Donald Trump’s side at every opportunity clearly overestimated the integrity of the congressman.

Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post:

Babies are seized from their mothers’ arms. Photographs show their anguish. News reports describe their cages. A recording captures their wailing and a U.S. border official’s cold mockery. A defiant President Trump falsely blames others for the misery he created.

And Republican lawmakers respond as they often have: They hold another hearing about Hillary Clinton’s emails.

But they have run this play too many times before.

Just 29 seconds into Tuesday’s hearing on the defeated Democratic 2016 presidential nominee and her emails, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, interrupted to point out that something more important needs attention.

“We have seen the pictures of immigrants ripped apart from their parents at the border. These children are not animals,” he said. “They are children who have been forcibly removed from their parents in our name.”

Republicans on the committee tried to silence Nadler with calls of “order!”

Nadler spoke over them: “The United States should be better than this. We should not put children in cages.”

“Regular order!” called out Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Nadler “has been given more time than would have been afforded the other side, had we pulled something like that.”

Ah, so it’s “regular order” to have the umpteenth hearing about a now-private citizen’s emails, but you’re “pulling” a stunt if you talk about the Trump policy under which border guards are reportedly telling parents they are taking children “for a bath” and the children never return.

No, Republicans, your “regular order” is out of order.

In an interview with NPR, Congressman Goodlatte essentially backed the Trump administration’s position that only Congress can end the cruel policy of separating children from their parents at the border with Mexico.

Goodlatte agrees with Trump’s false assertion that the law requires that children be separated from their parents. But even other Congressional Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, say that Trump could end this practice with a phone call to the Department of Homeland Security.