John Cornyn

John Cornyn III is the Junior Senator for the state of Texas. He is a Republican and was first elected in 2002.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Cornyn has been described as one of "Big Oil's ten favorite members of Congress," as he has received more money from the oil and gas industry than all but six other members of Congress. Cornyn has scored 0% on the League of Conservation Voter's environmental scorecard during his tenure in the Senate, a system of ranking politicians according to their voting record on environmental legislation. 

Transparency
On March 13, 2007, Cornyn and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National (OPEN) Government Act of 2007 (S.849). The Act is intended "to promote accessibility, accountability, openness in government by strengthening section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act)." The bill is also referred to as the Freedom of Information Reform Act of 2007. The bill contains more than a dozen substantive provisions designed to achieve the following four objectives:
 * 1) Strengthen FOIA and close loopholes
 * 2) Help FOIA requestors obtain timely responses to their requests
 * 3) Ensure that agencies have strong incentives to act on FOIA requests in a timely fashion
 * 4) Provide FOIA officials with all of the tools they need to ensure that our government remains open and accessible

The bill was blocked under an "anonymous hold" by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

Oil
John Cornyn has voted in favor of big oil companies on 100% of important oil related bills from 2005-2007, according to Oil Change International. These bills include Iraq war funding, climate change studies, clean energy, and emissions. See below for oil money in politics.

Abramoff/Casino investigation
On April 18, 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed Texas Public Information Act requests with both the Texas Office of the Attorney General and with the Texas Governor's Office to obtain information regarding contacts between Cornyn and lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, as well as for all documents related to the Tigua Tribe of El Paso, Texas.

CREW filed its requests in response to Sen. Cornyn's statement that he never met with Reed in regard to the Tigua casino. (Maria Recio, Fort Worth Star-Telegram) However, some believe email correspondence between Abramoff and Reed suggests otherwise.

On November 12, 2001, Reed sent Abramoff an e-mail message stating, "get me details so I can alert cornyn and let him know what we are doing to help him" [sic]. Similarly, on November 13, 2001, Reed wrote "I strongly suggest we start doing patch-throughs to perry and cornyn [sic]. We're getting killed on the phone." Also, on January 7, 2002, Reed sent Abramoff an e-mail stating "I think we should budget for an ataboy for cornyn" [sic].

When Cornyn ran for Senate, Abramoff contributed $1,000, the maximum amount legally allowed. The allegedly anti-gambling Cornyn also received $6,250 in contributions from Las Vegas casino interests who oppose Indian gaming, some of which were made at the same time Cornyn was pushing to close the Tigua's casino.

Judicial BINGO
In September 2005, during the Supreme Court hearings for John G. Roberts, Jr., Cornyn's staff passed out bingo cards to reporters, asking them to stamp their card every time a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee used terms such as "far right" or "extremist". 

After the withdrawal of the nomination of Harriet E. Miers to the Supreme Court, Cornyn was mentioned as a possible replacement nominee.

Court violence controversy
Cornyn has been active in criticizing what he calls "activist judges". Cornyn caused a controversy in the wake of several high-profile violent crimes and death threats against judges when he stated on the floor of the U.S. Senate on April 4, 2005, that "raw political or ideological decisions" by judges cause "great distress" in many people and wondered aloud if this "distress" was the cause of the violence.

Cornyn later retracted the remarks, arguing that they were taken out of context. He argued that as a former judge himself, he was "outraged" by recent acts of violence against judges and undercut his original statement by saying "I'm not aware of any evidence whatsoever linking recent acts of courthouse violence to the various controversial rulings that have captured the nation's attention in recent years."

Executive power
In July 2006 Cornyn expressed opposition to a bill by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) that would allow Congress to file a lawsuit to get presidential signing statements declared unconstitutional, saying "I don’t see what the problem is."
 * See the Congresspedia article on presidential signing statements.

SKIL Act of 2007
The Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership Act, or the SKIL Bill, is targeted at increasing legal immigration of scientific, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers into the United States by increasing the quotas on the H-1B visa, eliminating green card caps for certain advanced degree holders, and streamlining the processing of employment-based green cards.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced the Senate version of the SKIL Bill (S. 1083) on April 10, 2007.

As of April 2007, the SKIL Bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bio
Born February 2, 1952, Cornyn graduated from Trinity University and later earned his J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law. Cornyn also earned an LL.M. from the University of Virginia Law School in 1995.

After serving six years as a District Court Judge in San Antonio, Texas, he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1990 and re-elected in 1996. Cornyn resigned from the Texas Supreme Court in 1997 to run for the office of attorney general of Texas. When elected, he became the first Republican to win the position since Reconstruction. He left that post for his successful Senate run.

In 2005 Cornyn's name was floated among possibilities to replace Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O'Connor or William H. Rehnquist.

In September 2005, Cornyn sponsored a bill that would allow law enforcement to force anyone arrested or detained to provide samples of their DNA, which would be recorded in a central database. 

Following the 2006 midterm elections, Cornyn was selected vice-chair of the Senate Republican Conference for the 110th Congress.

Money in politics
cid=N00024852&cycle=2008

Oil and Coal Money in Politics
John Cornyn has received $576,550 in oil contributions during the 110th congress. $140,300 of those dollars were from industry PACS. In total, Cornyn has accepted $1,404,275 from oil companies since from 2000 to 2008, which makes him one of the top recipients of oil money. In addition to oil money, Cornyn has accepted $54,400 in coal contributions during the 110th congress. $47,000 of those dollars were from industry PACS.

Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

 * Senate Committee on the Budget
 * Senate Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
 * Subcommittee on Airland - Ranking Member
 * Senate Committee on the Judiciary
 * Subcommittee on the Constitution
 * Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
 * Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees
 * Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * Senate Committee on Armed Services
 * Senate Committee on the Budget
 * Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * Joint Economic Committee
 * Senate Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
 * Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
 * Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities - Chair
 * Senate Committee on the Budget
 * Senate Committee on the Judiciary
 * Subcommittee on the Constitution Civil Rights and Property Rights
 * Subcommittee on Corrections and Rehabilitations
 * Subcommittee on Immigration Border Security and Citizenship - Chair
 * Subcommittee on Intellectual Property
 * Subcommittee on Technology Terrorism and Homeland Security
 * Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Coalitions and Caucuses

 * In 2004, Cornyn co-founded and became the co-chairman of the U.S. Senate India Caucus with the encouragement and aid of the USINPAC Political Action Committee.

Twitter
 John Cornyn posts on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JohnCornyn/

Latest posts: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/JohnCornyn.rss|title=none| max=3| short See all the members of Congress who Twitter

Resources

 * Official website
 * Courthouse violence remarks
 * Retraction/clarification of courthouse violence remarks
 * Citizens for Ethics FOIA Request.
 * See how you compare to John Cornyn
 * Follow the Oil Money-Senate
 * Vote Tracker
 * Follow the Coal Money- Senate
 * Appalachian Voices
 * Daily Show segment on Tom DeLay, Cornyn, and federal judges, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (delivered by Crooks and Liars) (Other Daily Show segments pertaining to Congress)

Articles by John Cornyn

 * John Cornyn, "Courts Are to Blame for War on Christmas," Human Events Online.
 * John Cornyn, "Falsities on the Senate Floor. Marathon reveals Democratic prioritization of partisanship over justice," The National Review, November 13, 2003.
 * John Cornyn, "Injudicious Battles. Is there any stopping the judge madness in the Senate?," The National Review, November 23, 2004.
 * John Cornyn, "Domestic, Not Foreign. Our laws should be judged by our laws," The National Review, March 28, 2005.

Articles

 * "Enron's Political Gifts Haunt GOP," Associated Press (Common Dreams), December 22, 2001.
 * Lauri Apple, "Tulia, Too Late," The Austin Chronicle, September 6, 2002.
 * John Aravosis, "GOP Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) says violence against judges is understandable," AMERICAblog, April 4, 2005.
 * Charles Babington, "Senator Links Violence to 'Political' Decisions. 'Unaccountable' Judiciary Raises Ire," Washington Post, April 5, 2005.
 * "CREW Files Texas Public Information Request Regarding US Senator Cornyn's Involvement With Indian Gaming Scandal. Cornyn Claims to Have Never Met GOP Activist Ralph Reed," Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, April 22, 2005. re Ralph Reed
 * Rachel L. Swarns, "A GOP Split on Immigration Vexes Senator," New York Times, March 26, 2006.
 * Tim Shorrock, "Cornyn, George Wallace, and Me," The Texas Observer (Money Doesn't Talk, It Swears ... Blog), July 6, 2006.
 * Alan K. Ota, "Few Republicans Back Specter Bid to Curb Bush’s Use of Signing Statements," CQ, July 25, 2006.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Another Republican Senator endorses McCain's plan for sending additional troops to Iraq," AMERICAblog, November 26, 2006.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Bush administration
 * Jack Abramoff
 * Karl Rove
 * North American Investment Fund
 * Ralph Reed
 * The Courts: Shifting the Judiciary to the Right ... for Big Business

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Fort Bend Democrats
 * Jobs Anger
 * Burnt Orange Report
 * Somervell County Salon