WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), made the following statement today about the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Executive Overreach Task Force hearing:

“Today’s hearing is an important step towards reining in the government stampede toward over-enforcement, where officials use novel and overly broad interpretations of the law to bring troubling, and sometimes abusive, criminal and civil cases with enormous penalties.

“Prosecutors are increasingly defining success by the size of the penalty or settlement they can extract from a defendant. When did our justice system begin to prioritize profits over actual justice?

“It is time to rein in this abuse and bring about rationality and common sense reform.”

The Honorable Michael Mukasey, former Attorney General of the United States, testified on behalf of ILR at today’s hearing. General Mukasey’s testimony highlighted recent examples of enforcement abuse by the U.S. Department of Justice, identified factors leading to these outcomes, and recommended reforms and oversight to protect against over-enforcement. A copy of his testimony is available here.

ILR seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

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