committee as we meet today to formally organize the committee today's agenda is adoption of the committee rules and ratification of subcommittee assigned let me beg by saying that i look forward to working with my colleagues either side of the aisle and in particular with our ranking member lamar smith in developing and advanc agenda that serves the interests of all the american people i believe service on this committee is a special public trust like i came to this committee with that in mind number of years ago and i still believe that we have jurisdiction over many of the most significant and significant issues that come before the congress protecting our civil rights our under intellectual property laws the competition is preserved in commerce that our civil justice system functions properly that the appropriate balance is struck in our immigration laws  bankruptcy laws and that our federal judges have the tools and resources that they need these are issues that go to the heart of the american experience and i think that we are gathered here at the right time and the right place to help move these very important concepts barbour i personally recognize that i fall in the footsteps of many of the giants of our congressional system manny seller peter rodino jack brooks henry hyde jim sensenbrenner this committee has been run with before us let me also add that all of these chairman have worked to protect the committee's jurisdiction and i share the sco as well now i've come to know and respect lamar smith our ranking member in his years of service on the committee and i'm very much looking forward to working with him over the next two years as was the case with the previous chairs and ranking members it's my hope that where it is at all possible we can work together to craft important legislation and where it is not that we try to create meaningful compromises so that we can get as much done as possible and that we can a stablish fair procedure that will allow for a balanced hearings and the debates and the resolution of amendments both in this committee and on the house floor the members and the american people deserve no less and now before i turn it over to the  who had the audacity to run for office the same day he first registered to vote twenty four years in the state senate where he served on the judiciary committee and  distinguished for civil rights activity both in and out of office hank johnson of georgia a commissionaire and outstanding trial lawyer and a judge in the county court in his state luis gutierrez known to you all after fourteen years of service distinguished service in this house and we are proud that he is now on the committee began his artur davis of alabama former assistant united states attorney in private practice after that specializing in civil rights and criminal defense and ellison of minnesota originally of detroit and moved to minnesota attended law school went on to serve in the minnesota state legislator later he also served as executive director of the legal rights center been a number of years in private practice and helped establish also the minneapolis police civilian review board i now turn to my friend and ranking minority member the gentleman from texas mr lamar smith for his comment thank you mr chairman the chairman i have to confess that this was not the arrangement i was expecting a few months ago is not necessarily be arrangement i expect in two years meanwhile though congratulations to the gentleman from michigan on being selected to serve as chairman of such an exceptional committee what makes the judiciary committee special to me it is is that it is the guardian of the constitution the document that holds the country together the name of every subcommittee is constitutionally based no other congressional committee has  distinction so far mr chairman we are off to a good start we have agreed to an interim committee budget had a smooth transition with regard to relocation of office space and have reached agreement on the new committee rules i hope this bipartisan approach continues this committee has a long history of able leaders former chairman or were they ranking members include daniel webster in j madison who is later elected president i have every expectation that your chairman that you will maintain and even chance the committee's reputation as a second most senior member of the house you have done much to serve our country you have been a champion of the civil rights movement and a leader on the passage of several historic laws such as the violence against women act the martin luther king jr holiday and the voting rights act  were also one of the thirteen members who established the congressional black caucus i am confident that as the chairman of the judiciary committee you will continue to uphold the constitution and advance the interest of the american people congressman jordan from urbana ohio succeeds our former colleague mike oxley in the fourth congressional district he holds three degrees of b s from the university of wisconsin and from the ohio state university from capital university during his years in school he was both a high school and two time in the c double a wrestling champions so members of the committee should be grateful that when we sometimes  with each other it is a verbal a not physically also a congressman jordan has served in both the ohio state house and the state senate there he led the charge against efforts to raise taxes and championed pro family legislation the standard by which he has always measured policy issues is to pose the question is it good for families i suspect that that will be his post are in congress to con by for the one hundred tenth congress as required by clause two of house rule levon a copy of the proposed rules as before each member with the proposed changes from the previous congress shown involved without objection the rules will be considered as read an open forum in any point and i now recognize myself for a brief description of the proposed changes ladies and gentlemen the proposed rules are substantially the same rules we adopted in the previous congress with for changes that promote c in my view in our proceeding while appropriately protecting the rights of our members including our minority members there also to changes in the names of subcommittees the first change fixes our regular meeting day to wednesday to conform with longstanding actual practice the second change conditions waiver of the twenty four hour meeting notice requirement on concurrence of the ranking minority member previously only notice to the ranking member was required the third change of them an age the requirement that markup transcriptions be printed in legislative report while this requirement is provided a useful public reference i believe that we can balance the public right to know with our committees need to move expeditiously by making these transcripts of vailable to the public official website for the minority now this is long been our practice but i believe it's important enough to be codified in our rules the two changes to subcommittee names the subcommittee on the constitution will become with our ratification the subcommittee on the constitution civil rights and civil liberties subcommittee on immigration border security and claims will become the subcommittee on immigration status citizenship refugees border security and international law these changes are not intended to reflect any change in jurisdiction and i know you will of course to the gentleman committee rules for one hundred tenth congress let me say that i appreciate chairman conyers consulting with me about the proposed rules changes while i don't necessarily agree with all of the proposed rules most of them have positive features that will benefit both the majority and the minority first the new rules modified will to with regard to notice for markups the current rule requires twenty four hours notice that you will states that the twenty four hour notice requirement could be waiting emergencies but only after the the agreement of the ranking member this will ensure that adequate notice is given before markets it is clearly important that we are all given sufficient notice from markups and other committee meetings as a former chairman of the i am pleased with the addition of room nine it brings our committee rules into the twenty first century authorizing official committee web sites for the majority and the minority i understand this edition was recommended by the house counsel's office to ensure that official documents posted online mine are protected by the speech and debate clause under the constitution this rule does not subvert house rules that regulate the type of content that is appropriate for an official website political content for example is still prohibited i am not as enthusiastic but the chairman decided to eliminate the requirement that markup transcripts be published as a part of committee report markup transcript been a useful tool for all members during floor debate so they are able to accurately refer to what happened to the committee markup but requiring that they be included in committee reports in the past we ensure that the transcript was readily available on the floor nevertheless i do understand that we are one of only two committees that currently require the transcript to be included in the committee report and i realize this requirement could string staff resources revised rule will still require that a transcript be made of every markup and the majority has assured me that the transcript will be made available to members in a timely manner even though it is not necessarily included in that committee report finding mr  would like to take a moment to comment on the new subcommittee mings the subcommittee on immigration border security and claims will be renamed the subcommittee on immigration citizenship refugees water security and international law aside from being a little wordy i am disappointed that border security is listed as next to last i hope that the chairman of the full committee in the chairwoman of the subcommittee do not plan to relegate border security to a lower level of priority than say the admission of refugees our first responsibility should always be the safety and well being of the citizens of the united states again i thank the chairman for consulting with me on the changes to the rules and i yield back the balance of my time oh yes mr coburn thank you mr chairman and appreciate to the new rules i would just want to make sure clarification on the rule change with regard to transcripts even with the rule change there will be a transcript available of each hearing is that correct absolutely absolutely sure the thought behind the change is that we want to expedite the reports as quickly as possible but we definitely want to make all this everything that we do in full committee and subcommittee of vailable not only to ourselves but to the general public as well so  that that is our thought in that regard ladies and ladies and gentlemen the chair now moves that the rules of the committee on the judiciary for the one hundred tenth congress be adopted without objection the previous question is ordered reporting corm being present the question is on the motion all in favor say aye aye aye all opposed say no the ayes have it the rules are adopted and we will now take the final order of business the ratification of the subcommittee assignments the members have before them a resolution appointing the chairman ranking minority member and other majority and minority members for each subcommittee as approved separately by the committee's democratic caucus and republican conference that our committee  democratic caucus meeting yesterday we selected mr howard berman to chair the subcommittee on courts we elected mr bobby scott to chair the subcommittee on ranking members allows more members to share in the responsibilities of holding a leadership position that the ranking members will be second in seniority on the subcommittee they will perform the duties of the subcommittee ranking member in their absence for purposes hearings and markups and will have a role in designating a minority witness in considering legislation under that subcommittee hearing stiction let me introduce our ranking members and deputy ranking members the former chairman of the subcommittee on commercial constitution civil rights and civil liberties will be congressman trent franks of arizona mr franks as a former state legislator who is now in his second term on the judiciary committee congressman mike pence of indiana will serve as deputy ranking congressman randy forbes origen's will be the ranking member of the crime subcommittee mr forbes is going to fourth term in congress you've been a very active member of the crime subcommittee you will continue to focus on relevant issues no doubt he will work closely with the his new leadership role on the subcommittee the ranking member of the subcommittee on immigration citizenship refugees border security and international law will be congressman steve king mr king is in its third term in the house and has not been and in that regard we particularly look for members who are not ranking members on the judiciary committee or other committees and we were able to therefore be able to give everybody at least some form of the leadership role but again all within the keeping of what we camp thank you are there any amendments to the resolution if not the question is on the resolution the previous question is ordered and all those in favor will signify by saying i those opposed signify by saying no the ayes have it and the subcommittee assignments are approved if there is no further discussion this concludes the business of the organizational meeting or the one hundred tenth congress and with that the meeting stance of journey thank you all and congratulations to every member