Supreme Court Grounds Transfer Act of 2005

SUPREME COURT GROUNDS TRANSFER ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - March 28, 2006)

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the subcommittee with whom I have worked so closely for making sure that this small bill got to the floor and got done.

Mr. Speaker, S. 2116 is a bill to transfer the parcel of property currently under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The parcel of land is a small triangle of land bounded by Constitution Avenue Northeast, Maryland Avenue Northeast, and Second Street Northeast.

Once the parcel is transferred from the Architect to the Supreme Court, the Capitol Hill Police will no longer have the security responsibility for the parcel; and, further, the definition of the Capitol grounds will be amended to show that the parcel has been deleted from the definition of the Capitol grounds.

The Supreme Court requested this transfer in order to enhance its perimeter security program. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill and urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, before I yield back the balance of my time I do want to say that this bill brings to mind, especially since it is being transferred for security reasons, the fact that we are operating under an old 19th century organization of the police that guard the complex of most important Federal building in the District of Columbia, the Supreme Court Police, the Library of Congress Police, and the Capitol Hill police.

Mr. Speaker, at the moment we have some jurisdiction over this Federal police force. But the jurisdiction I am speaking of, which has already been passed by the Congress of the United States, is not under our jurisdiction, but because of the security which is the reason for the transfer, I do want to say that what we have with this complex of buildings that are within sight of one another, are very different police forces.

We have a police force that is trained differently for the three most important buildings in this vicinity. The Library of Congress is trained differently. It is as if these were the police forces of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Mr. Speaker, that is dangerous. That is nothing short of dangerous. We have so shored up the Capitol, that any terrorist on the lookout for something to do in this vicinity is surely going to go to places that she may believe is less well guarded, like the Library of Congress, and like, if I may so, the Supreme Court of the United States.

I have met with the Marshal of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Library of Congress. I am familiar with both their police forces. But now that this bill has been brought to the floor, I urge that we all respond to what has now become public, because the Library of Congress Police have raised the question again.

There was an article in Roll Call just a few days ago that there were real security problems with the Library of Congress and its police. I have not heard the same thing about the Supreme Court.

But I do not think we should rest well knowing that we have shored up the Congress of the United States and we hope everything is well with the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. I think it is our obligation to make sure that it is, in fact, the case.

http://thomas.loc.gov/