U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article III Project, during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights. The hearing focused on issues related to the impeachment of federal judges and political violence.
Durbin addressed comments made by Chamberlain in September on X (formerly Twitter), where Chamberlain wrote: “I’m fine with a living Constitution at the moment, tbh. There are a number of provisions that could be helpfully reinterpreted in light of the demands of our current problems to ensure that we can jail everyone celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death.”
“For the record, I condemn political violence, threats of violence, and the like from either [the] right or [the] left. Do you believe personally those who celebrate political violence should be put in jail?” Durbin asked.
Mr. Chamberlain responded, “No.”
“Despite your statement?” Durbin followed up.
Mr. Chamberlain responded, “It was a provocative X post. I don’t think that as a matter of what the law should be.”
Durbin continued his questioning: “Do you believe individuals who advocate for political violence should be put in jail?”
To which Mr. Chamberlain replied, “No, not on that alone.”
Durbin also raised concerns about Mike Davis from the Article III Project regarding statements Davis posted online about federal judges and U.S. Attorneys. On November 19, Davis wrote: “Dear U.S. Magistrate (Fake) Judges: We will start naming and shaming you. For your pretrial release of violent criminals. Even denials of criminal complaint. F*** you. We’re going to make you famous.” The day before he posted: “Dear U.S. Attorneys: Stop being p******. Charge agitators with assault, obstruction, conspiracy, and harboring. Do your f****** jobs. Or we will start calling you out. By name. And (very publicly) seek your removal. Enough is enough.”
“He [Mr. Davis] followed up on that by writing, ‘You know who’s excellent at naming and shaming?’ He then tagged you [Mr. Chamberlain] in his post. You responded to that by writing, ‘You beat me to it this time!’ Why do you consider offensive statements to be jailable crimes when they are expressed by your political opponents but acceptable and only just ‘provocative’ when they are expressed by your boss?” Durbin asked.
Chamberlain answered: “[Why did I] back a misstatement by my boss? I don’t think Mike Davis is calling for anybody’s jailing in that [post].”
Durbin stated: “The point I am trying to make is that we spend a lot of time in this Committee deciding that political violence is unacceptable—the right or the left. There are members of this Committee who argue all of the political violence is coming from the left. I don’t think that is true. I think it comes sadly from both sides, and I condemn all of it. Loose language such as yours from the so-called Article III Project is not helpful in reducing the amount of violence in this country against elected officials and judges.”
He concluded: “There are limits to what we say and do, and this notion of impeaching all the judges we disagree with is a new, novel approach, one that is inconsistent with the kind of democracy we have developed to this point. I find real problems with that.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee plays an important role within Congress by overseeing judicial nominations and supervising federal law enforcement agencies across Washington D.C., impacting legal policy nationwide through its hearings such as this one.
Video footage from Durbin’s questioning during committee proceedings is available online.
