Paul to meet with black lawmakers on justice reforms

Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul will host a meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus next week to discuss criminal justice reform.

The libertarian-leaning senator from Kentucky has long been an outspoken advocate for changing how the American criminal system prosecutes and sentences. Now he’s teaming up with Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), and other black lawmakers, to craft a strategy for advancing legislation as law enforcement issues have taken center stage following the death of several unarmed black men at the hands of police.


“Not only is Senator Paul the [S]enate co-sponsor of the Justice Safety Valve Act, which provides a method for judges to override mandatory minimums, but he was also instrumental in convincing the Senate to unanimously pass H.R. 1447, the Death in Custody Reporting Act, which Congressman Scott introduced and which is the first post-Ferguson Act of Congress,” says the email from Scott’s office inviting CBC members.

The Congressional Black Caucus has been pushing for decades to reform the criminal justice system, including doing away with laws that force mandatory minimums for certain drug offenses or requiring police department to retrain and adopt body cameras.

Last week, Paul introduced legislation with Rep. Keith Ellison, a liberal Democrat from Minnesota, that seeks to reclassify some nonviolent drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.

The Scott email, which was obtained by POLITICO, added that Paul agreed “not mention this meeting or any Member’s attendance at the meeting to the media or as part of his campaign.”

The meeting is set for Wednesday night.

A spokesman from Scott’s office declined to comment and a spokeswoman from Paul’s office did not return a request for comment.