Press Office Of Sen. Douglas Butcher (R-LA)

[Douglas Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS E. BUTCHER 

REPUBLICAN OF LOUISIANA

 

 

PUBLIC EVENTS

2016

★  Senator Butcher Comments On 2016 Race At NOLA Rotary Club

★  Senator Butcher On "Mass Incarceration" At Tulane Law School

 

PRESS RELEASES

2016

★  Press Release: Statement On Glossip v. Gross And Capital Punishment

★  Press Release: Senator Butcher Endorses Walker For GOP Nomination

 

MEDIA APPEARANCES

2016

★  Glenn Beck Program: Charleston Shooting & Confederate Symbolism (Q1)

★  The O'Reilly Factor: Supreme Court Vacancy (Q2)

★  Fox News Sunday: Nomination Of Paul Watford, SCOTUS Issues (Q3)

 

EDITORIALS

 

 

Edited March 22 by Douglas Butcher

[Douglas Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS E. BUTCHER (R-LA)

OFFICIAL PRESS STATEMENT ★ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

Press Release: Statement On Glossip v. Gross And Capital Punishment

 

Washington – Sen. Douglas Butcher (R-LA) issued a statement on the recent decision by the Supreme Court in Glossip v. Gross, upholding the constitutionality of the death penalty. Senator Butcher reaffirmed his commitment to capital punishment made the following remarks praising the decision:

 

“I have long been a supporter of capital punishment. The recent decision by the high court speaks to that commitment. Very simply, there are crimes which rise to the level where such a punishment is the only measure of justice that can meet the heinousness of such crimes. The legal system must have the means to send such a message when it is proper and fitting. The Court acted wisely not to undermine states which pursue that course of action by invoking the Eighth Amendment. More importantly, they did not let arguments over the methods involved become a reversal of the law that would undermine that commitment.

 

There will be some who will react to this decision with the argument that we must eliminate the death penalty. Let me say that I am not a fan of the president. President Obama has a record I have strong disagreement with. However, across the board, this was the president who killed Osama Bin Laden. President Obama deserves a tremendous amount of credit for that moment in history under his leadership.

 

That being said, I would put forward this hypothetical. Suppose Bin Laden had surrendered to Seal Team 6. Suppose they had brought him back for trial in an American courtroom. What would the appropriate punishment be for masterminding the death of nearly 3,000 Americans? If you are going to state that the death penalty has no place, you must proudly declare that Osama Bin Laden should not be executed. That’s the essence of that argument.

 

While it may not be 3,000 people dead in the streets of New York City, you can look at the particulars of this case and see the brutal bludgeoning of a man with a baseball bat orchestrated by Mr. Glossip. Another petitioner was Benjamin Cole who murdered his nine-month-old daughter. Or the case of John Grant, who killed a fellow inmate over a breakfast tray in prison. If you wish to argue the sanctity of human life, the person who cannot be the face of that argument is a man who believed a human life was worth less than a plate of prison-made scrambled eggs.

 

So, if this decision by the Supreme Court leads to an effort to eliminate the death penalty from the entirety of our jurisprudence, there needs to be ownership of exactly what is being defended by those who seek its elimination. There are crimes which merit the full measure of justice, and any robust debate must be an honest examination of whether those crimes merit that punishment. Nothing less.”

[Douglas Butcher]

Address To Rotary Club Of New Orleans – New Orleans, Louisiana

 

BUTCHER COMMENTS ON 2016 RACE AT NOLA ROTARY CLUB

 

Transcript of Sen. Douglas Butcher’s address to the Rotary Club Of New Orleans:

 

Good afternoon. It’s great to be here today and address this great civic organization. We are preparing for an important race in 2016 as we seek to replace President Obama. I believe it is critical that we set a new course for this nation – one that is pro-business, pro-life and which will secure our border and stand strong on the world stage. I look at the field of GOP candidates that have thrown their hats in the ring and there is a great opportunity for any one of them to lead.

 

I am actually very interested to see how the Democrats progress. They have their own conflict over there with an independent senator seeking their nomination. First, he’s barely able to qualify under the Constitution. He’ll turn 35 a week before the inauguration. That’s troubling because it speaks to a almost psychotic level of ambition. When I was 33, I was still working in the legal profession as an attorney. I don’t know how I could have the audacity to make the assumption I could lead the free world.

 

There are some things we can learn from that campaign as we watch it and watch the Democrats respond. Teachable moments are what we call them. He’s a registered independent and now some Democrats don’t trust him.

 

Well, what was the reason you became independent? You made a choice. There had to be a reason. I have voted Republican in every election in this state except for one. When my candidate didn’t make the general election, I worked for the Democrat. That’s because I did not want my home state being run by a Ku Klux Klansman Nazi as governor. That's called a good reason.

 

There was a reason I didn’t support my party in 1991. These aren't choices made in a vacuum. You better have a reason why you can explain to that party on the other side of the aisle why you detest being called a Democrat. I saw his speech about “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” You can talk all you want about the house, but you’re living on the veranda.

 

So, this will be a fascinating election. In a couple of days, I will be making my endorsement after reviewing platforms and looking where every candidate stands. As we go forward, I know the Democrats are going to wallow in identity politics. It’s a toxic reality of what they do. I will be looking to see which candidate on our side can make an unapologetic argument for our core conservative values in a way that cuts through that swamp rot of that kind of pandering. Whoever does that can be the one to lead us forward. And I look forward to supporting them and working for that victory. Thank you and God bless.

[Douglas Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS E. BUTCHER (R-LA)

OFFICIAL PRESS STATEMENT ★ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

Press Release: Senator Butcher Endorses Charles Walker For GOP Nomination

 

Washington – Sen. Douglas Butcher (R-LA) issued a statement on the 2016 Presidential Election, announcing his endorsement for the Republican Nomination. Senator Butcher announced his endorsement of Gen. Charles Walker for President. Senator Butcher made his endorsement in a brief statement:

 

“Today, I am announcing my support for Gen. Charles Walker as our next President. I have looked at the various platforms and I am pleased to see that we have a wide variety of exceptional candidates running. I also saw some red flags that made my decision easier. In the end, I look to General Walker’s military experience and the issues that he has chosen to fight for. He will bring those principles of leadership to match what I believe is the best stand on the issues facing us today.

 

There are some issues I’ve seen in various platforms that I have some minor disagreement with, but one issue in particular troubles me. I proudly come from a Right-To-Work state. That approach to the work force is that individuals should have the ability to determine whether they want to be in a union or not. That is called self-determination. It is called individual liberty. To nationalize labor policy to create government imposed bureaucracies in any business with a certain number of employees is so anathema to the principles of conservativism, when those principles arose from the models of European socialism. In Germany, it is a principle called co-determination. I proudly stand with self-determination.

 

Basically, as people have grown dissatisfied in EU nations with unions and union membership has declined, many unions have adapted in these countries and used the Work Council to create government imposed de facto union membership. This is the single worst idea being advanced in the current Republican primaries. As a proud Cajun I may very well say laissez le bon temps roullez and I may have practiced law under the Napoleonic Code, but I have no desire to create a national labor policy taken from the worst ideas of the Comité social et économique.

 

Nonetheless, I firmly stand with General Walker. He will be a great leader for this nation and a great standard bearer for our party. I urge my fellow Republicans to join me in supporting a true pro-life patriot who will advance religious liberty, advocate for limited government, defend the free market and restore America’s dignity on the world stage. Thank you and God bless the United States of America.”

 

 

Edited March 5 by Douglas Butcher
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[Douglas Butcher]

Address To Tulane University Law School – New Orleans, Louisiana

 

BUTCHER ON “MASS INCARCERATION” AT TULANE LAW SCHOOL

 

Transcript of Sen. Douglas Butcher’s comments to the Tulane University Law School:

 

Good afternoon. Thank you for allowing me to come and speak to future lawyers. For a decade, I practiced law in this state and I know that it can be challenging as you look ahead to the future. However, whatever side of the law you fall on – whether it’s criminal prosecution or criminal defense or in the arena of civil litigation – you are part of a system of laws which deal with individuals. Their responsibilities to society. Their responsibilities to their fellow citizens.  Most importantly, their individual rights.

 

There are a lot of people who will talk about mass incarceration in this upcoming election. You are going to hear that phrase a lot. As litigators, you need to remember that every person is in a jail cell because of their unique circumstances. Each crime was committed by an individual. An armed robbery in Shreveport is not a drug bust in Baton Rouge. If you allow yourself to approach the law in a way that believes we have a group incarcerated for some group crime, you will sight of your sacred commitment to the individual in the process.

 

Every person who is incarcerated is incarcerated as an individual. That person is incarcerated as an individual because they were sentenced as an individual. They were sentenced as an individual because they were convicted as an individual. They were convicted because they were tried. They were tried because they were arraigned. They were arraigned because they were booked. They were booked because they were arrested. All of this as a process as individuals emanating from a unique set of circumstances.

 

Language like “mass incarceration” which gets thrown around in our political discourse demonstrates a failure to understand the very underpinning of our laws. There are a lot of people in prison. Each one serves because of a unique moment in their lives. Whether it was a moment of stupidity resulting in poor judgement or a calculated act of evil, the role of the individual and accountability is paramount to our system of laws. And that has not changed.

 

There is a philosophy which is gaining in our academia pushing the idea of a kind of “cultural Marxism” that views individuals as having no personal agency. Everything becomes a type of dialectic where everything becomes viewed through a lens of collectivism. That mentality will undermine our very foundation of laws and it must be resisted.

 

There’s a great film called Network. Tremendous performance at its heart by Peter Finch. Its most famous scene is the “I’m Mad As Hell” speech. In that monologue, the most powerful line is “I’m a human being, God damn it, my life has value.” Every generation faces the challenge of whether we lose ourselves as individuals. We cannot fail to meet that challenge. The law, in that regard, is the singular expression of that obligation to be defenders of the individual. Whatever reforms or changes we make in Washington; it must also rest on that fundamental premise so important to our laws. Thank you.