IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 680 
Calling upon President Obama to retract his initial public remarks and 
apologize to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Sergeant James M. Crow-
ley for having unfairly impugned and prejudged his professional conduct 
in this local police response incident. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 27, 2009 
Mr. MCCOTTER (for himself, Mr. KING of New York, and Mr. KING of Iowa) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Calling upon President Obama to retract his initial public 
remarks and apologize to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Po-
lice Sergeant James M. Crowley for having unfairly im-
pugned and prejudged his professional conduct in this 
local police response incident. 
Whereas, on July 16, 2009, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Po-
lice Sergeant James M. Crowley responded to a 911 call 
from a neighbor of Harvard University Professor Henry 
Louis (‘‘Skip’’) Gates, Jr. about a suspected break-in in 
progress at his residence, which had been broken into on 
a prior occasion; 
Whereas, on July 22, 2009, in responding to a question dur-
ing a White House press conference President Barack 
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•HRES 680 IH 
Obama stated ‘‘Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a lit-
tle biased here. I don’t know all of the facts’’ involved in 
this local police response incident; 
Whereas President Obama proceeded to state Sergeant Crow-
ley ‘‘acted stupidly’’ for arresting Professor Gates on 
charges of disorderly conduct; 
Whereas, as a former Constitutional Law Professor, Presi-
dent Obama well understands that all Americans are in-
nocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and their ac-
tions should not be prejudged prior to being fully and 
fairly judged by an appropriate and objective authority 
after due process; 
Whereas President Obama’s nationally televised remarks may 
likely detrimentally influence the full and fair judgment 
by an appropriate and objective authority after due proc-
ess regarding this local police response incident and, 
thereby, impair Sergeant Crowley’s legal and professional 
standing in relation to said incident; 
Whereas President Obama appeared at a daily White House 
Press briefing on July 24, 2009, to address his denounce-
ment of Sergeant Crowley and stated ‘‘I could have cali-
brated those words differently’’ but ‘‘I continue to be-
lieve, based on what I have heard, that there was an 
overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home 
to the station.’’; and 
Whereas President Obama refused to retract his initial public 
remarks and apologize to Sergeant Crowley and, instead, 
reiterated his accusation impugning Sergeant Crowley’s 
professional conduct in the performance of his duties: 
Now, therefore, be it 
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•HRES 680 IH 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives calls 
upon President Obama to retract his initial public remarks 
and apologize to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Ser-
geant James M. Crowley for having unfairly impugned 
and prejudged his professional conduct in this local police 
response incident. 
Æ 
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