Michael Chertoff
Encyclopedia
Michael Chertoff was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security
under President George W. Bush
and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act
. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
, as a federal prosecutor, and as assistant U.S. Attorney General
. He succeeded Tom Ridge
as United States Secretary of Homeland Security
on February 15, 2005.
Since leaving government service, Chertoff has worked as Senior Of Counsel
at the Washington, D.C.
law firm of Covington & Burling
. He also co-founded the Chertoff Group, a risk management and security consulting company, which employs several senior officials from his time as Secretary of Homeland Security as well as Michael Hayden, a former Director of the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Chertoff is a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy
.
to Rabbi
Gershon Baruch Chertoff (1915–1996), the former leader of the Congregation B'nai Israel in Elizabeth and Talmud scholar, and Livia Chertoff (née Eisen), El Al flight attendant. His paternal grandfather, Rabbi Paul Chertoff (emigrated with his parents from czarist Russia, present day Belarus
) was a noted Talmud
scholar.
Chertoff went to the Jewish Educational Center
in Elizabeth as well as the Pingry School
. He later attended Harvard College
, where he was a research assistant on John Hart Ely
's book Democracy and Distrust, graduating in 1975 and then spending one year at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. He then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School
in 1978, going on to clerk for appellate judge Murray Gurfein
for a year before clerking for United States Supreme Court Justice William Brennan
from 1979 to 1980. He worked in private practice with Latham & Watkins
from 1980 to 1983 before being hired as a prosecutor by Rudolph Giuliani, then the U.S. attorney for Manhattan
, working on Mafia
and political corruption
-related cases. In the mid 1990s, Chertoff returned to Latham & Watkins for a brief period, founding the firm's office in Newark, New Jersey
.
.
In 1990, Chertoff was appointed by President George H. W. Bush
as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Among his most important cases, in 1992 Chertoff put second-term Jersey City
Mayor Gerald McCann
in federal prison for over two years on charges of defrauding
money from a savings and loan scam. Chertoff was asked to stay in his position when the Clinton administration took office in 1993, at the request of Democratic Senator Bill Bradley
. He was the only U.S. attorney not replaced and stayed with the U.S. Attorney's office until 1994, when he entered private practice, returning to Latham & Watkins
as a partner.
Despite his friendly relationship with some Democrats, Chertoff took an active role in the Whitewater investigation against Bill
and Hillary Clinton, serving as the special counsel for the Senate Whitewater Committee studying allegations against the Clintons.
In 2000, Chertoff worked as special counsel to the New Jersey State Senate
Judiciary Committee, investigating racial profiling
in New Jersey. He also did some fundraising for George W. Bush
and other Republicans during the 2000 election cycle and advised Bush's presidential campaign on criminal justice
issues. From 2001 to 2003, he headed the criminal division of the Department of Justice
, leading the prosecution's case against terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui
.
Chertoff also led the prosecution's case against accounting firm Arthur Andersen
for destroying documents relating to the Enron
collapse. The prosecution of Arthur Andersen was controversial, as the firm was effectively dissolved, resulting in the loss of 26,000 jobs. The Supreme Court
overturned the conviction and the case has not been retried. At the Department of Justice, he also came under fire as one of the chief architects of the Bush administration's legal strategies in the War on Terror
, particularly regarding the detention of thousands of Middle Eastern immigrants.
On March 5, 2003, Chertoff was nominated by President Bush to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
vacated by Morton I. Greenberg. Hillary Clinton (then a Senator from New York) cast the lone dissenting vote against Chertoff's confirmation. He was confirmed by the Senate 88-1 on June 9, 2003, and received his commission the following day. Mrs. Clinton explained that her vote was in protest of the way junior White House staffers were "very badly treated" by Chertoff's staff during the Whitewater investigation.
was forced to decline President Bush's offer to replace Tom Ridge
, the outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security
. After a lengthy search to find a suitable replacement, Bush nominated Chertoff to the post in January 2005, citing his experience with post-9/11 terror legislation. He was unanimously approved for the position by the United States Senate
on February 15, 2005.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
, most of the criticism was directed toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency
, but DHS was criticized as well for its lack of preparation.
Chertoff was the Bush administration's point man for pushing the comprehensive immigration reform bill, a measure that stalled in the Senate in June 2007.
Chertoff was asked by the Obama administration
to stay in his post until 9 a.m. on January 21, 2009 (one day after President Obama's inauguration), "to ensure a smooth transition".
, the Clean Water Act
, and other environmental protection
legislation to construct a 700 miles (1,126.5 km) fence along the Mexico–United States border. The Times wrote: "To the long list of things the Bush administration is willing to trash in its rush to appease immigration hard-liners, you can now add dozens of important environmental laws and hundreds of thousands of acres of fragile habitat on the southern border."
According to New York Times columnist Adam Liptak
, Chertoff had excluded the Department of Homeland Security from having to follow laws "protecting the environment, endangered species
, migratory birds, the bald eagle
, antiquities, farms, deserts, forests, Native American
graves and religious freedom."
A report issued by the Congressional Research Service
, the non-partisan research division of the Library of Congress
, said that the unchecked delegation of powers to Chertoff was unprecedented: "After a review of federal law, primarily through electronic database searches and consultations with various CRS experts, we were unable to locate a waiver provision identical to that of §102 of H.R. 418—i.e., a provision that contains 'notwithstanding' language, provides a secretary of an executive agency the authority to waive all laws such secretary determines necessary, and directs the secretary to waive such laws."
committee that the DHS would not tolerate interference by sanctuary cities
that would block the "Basic Pilot Program", which requires some types of employers to validate the legal status of their workers. He said that the DHS is exploring its legal options and intends to take action to prevent any interference with the law.
In 2008 it became public that the housekeeping company Chertoff had hired to clean his house employed illegal immigrants.
United States Secretary of Homeland Security
The United States Secretary of Homeland Security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the body concerned with protecting the American homeland and the safety of American citizens. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. The position was created by the...
under President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...
. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:* District of Delaware* District of New Jersey...
, as a federal prosecutor, and as assistant U.S. Attorney General
United States Assistant Attorney General
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General.The President of the United States appoints individuals to the position of Assistant Attorney General with the advice and consent of the Senate...
. He succeeded Tom Ridge
Tom Ridge
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Ridge is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives , the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania , Assistant to the President for Homeland Security , and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security...
as United States Secretary of Homeland Security
United States Secretary of Homeland Security
The United States Secretary of Homeland Security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the body concerned with protecting the American homeland and the safety of American citizens. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. The position was created by the...
on February 15, 2005.
Since leaving government service, Chertoff has worked as Senior Of Counsel
Of counsel
Of counsel is often the title of an attorney who is employed by a law firm or an organization, but is not an associate or a partner. Some firms use titles like "counsel," "special counsel," and "senior counsel" for the same concept...
at the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
law firm of Covington & Burling
Covington & Burling
Covington & Burling LLP is an international law firm with offices in Beijing, Brussels, London, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, and Washington, DC. The firm advises multinational corporations on significant transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters...
. He also co-founded the Chertoff Group, a risk management and security consulting company, which employs several senior officials from his time as Secretary of Homeland Security as well as Michael Hayden, a former Director of the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Chertoff is a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy
Institute for Cultural Diplomacy
The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy is an international, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation based in Berlin. Founded in 1999 by Mark Donfried, its activities focus on promoting and developing the field of cultural diplomacy by conducting research, initiatives and programs, holding...
.
Early life
Chertoff was born in Elizabeth, New JerseyElizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
to Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Gershon Baruch Chertoff (1915–1996), the former leader of the Congregation B'nai Israel in Elizabeth and Talmud scholar, and Livia Chertoff (née Eisen), El Al flight attendant. His paternal grandfather, Rabbi Paul Chertoff (emigrated with his parents from czarist Russia, present day Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
) was a noted Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
scholar.
Chertoff went to the Jewish Educational Center
Jewish Educational Center
The Jewish Educational Center is a fifteen-year yeshiva school located in Elizabeth, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in Prekindergarten through 12th grades. Throughout the day students learn a mixture of Judaic and secular studies. JEC, as it is commonly known, is run...
in Elizabeth as well as the Pingry School
Pingry School
The Pingry School is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory country day school in New Jersey, with a Lower School campus in the Short Hills neighborhood of Millburn, and a Middle and Upper School campus in Martinsville. The school was founded in 1861 by Dr. John F. Pingry.Pingry's...
. He later attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, where he was a research assistant on John Hart Ely
John Hart Ely
John Hart Ely is one of the most widely-cited legal scholars in United States history, ranking just after Richard Posner, Ronald Dworkin, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., according to a 2000 study in the University of Chicago's Journal of Legal Studies.-Biography:Born in New York City, John Hart...
's book Democracy and Distrust, graduating in 1975 and then spending one year at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. He then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
in 1978, going on to clerk for appellate judge Murray Gurfein
Murray Gurfein
Murray Irwin Gurfein was a federal judge in the United States.Born in New York City, Gurfein attended Columbia College and Harvard Law School. After graduating, he served as a law clerk to Judge Julian Mack and then as an Assistant United States Attorney in New York. He also served as an...
for a year before clerking for United States Supreme Court Justice William Brennan
William J. Brennan, Jr.
William Joseph Brennan, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990...
from 1979 to 1980. He worked in private practice with Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins LLP is a global law firm, one of the largest in the world. Latham currently employs approximately 2,000 attorneys in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm was started in Los Angeles in 1934 and has extensive Californian roots, but its largest office is now...
from 1980 to 1983 before being hired as a prosecutor by Rudolph Giuliani, then the U.S. attorney for Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, working on Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
and political corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
-related cases. In the mid 1990s, Chertoff returned to Latham & Watkins for a brief period, founding the firm's office in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
.
Public service
In September 1986, together with U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Rudolph Giuliani, Chertoff was instrumental in the crackdown on organized crime in the Mafia Commission TrialMafia Commission Trial
The Mafia Commission Trial was a criminal trial in New York City, USA. Using evidence obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, eleven organized crime figures, including the heads of New York's so-called "Five Families," were indicted by United States Attorney Rudolph Giuliani under the...
.
In 1990, Chertoff was appointed by President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Among his most important cases, in 1992 Chertoff put second-term Jersey City
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
Mayor Gerald McCann
Gerald McCann
Gerald McCann is an American Democratic Party politician who served two non-consecutive terms as mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey before being convicted of fraud in a savings and loan scam. When he was elected in 1981 he was the second youngest mayor in the city's history.-Biography:He was born in...
in federal prison for over two years on charges of defrauding
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
money from a savings and loan scam. Chertoff was asked to stay in his position when the Clinton administration took office in 1993, at the request of Democratic Senator Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley
William Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....
. He was the only U.S. attorney not replaced and stayed with the U.S. Attorney's office until 1994, when he entered private practice, returning to Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins LLP is a global law firm, one of the largest in the world. Latham currently employs approximately 2,000 attorneys in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm was started in Los Angeles in 1934 and has extensive Californian roots, but its largest office is now...
as a partner.
Despite his friendly relationship with some Democrats, Chertoff took an active role in the Whitewater investigation against Bill
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and Hillary Clinton, serving as the special counsel for the Senate Whitewater Committee studying allegations against the Clintons.
In 2000, Chertoff worked as special counsel to the New Jersey State Senate
New Jersey Senate
The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
Judiciary Committee, investigating racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
in New Jersey. He also did some fundraising for George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and other Republicans during the 2000 election cycle and advised Bush's presidential campaign on criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
issues. From 2001 to 2003, he headed the criminal division of the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, leading the prosecution's case against terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui is a French citizen who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the US as part of the September 11 attacks...
.
Chertoff also led the prosecution's case against accounting firm Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations...
for destroying documents relating to the Enron
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...
collapse. The prosecution of Arthur Andersen was controversial, as the firm was effectively dissolved, resulting in the loss of 26,000 jobs. The Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
overturned the conviction and the case has not been retried. At the Department of Justice, he also came under fire as one of the chief architects of the Bush administration's legal strategies in the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, particularly regarding the detention of thousands of Middle Eastern immigrants.
On March 5, 2003, Chertoff was nominated by President Bush to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:* District of Delaware* District of New Jersey...
vacated by Morton I. Greenberg. Hillary Clinton (then a Senator from New York) cast the lone dissenting vote against Chertoff's confirmation. He was confirmed by the Senate 88-1 on June 9, 2003, and received his commission the following day. Mrs. Clinton explained that her vote was in protest of the way junior White House staffers were "very badly treated" by Chertoff's staff during the Whitewater investigation.
Secretary of Homeland Security
In late 2004, Bernard KerikBernard Kerik
Bernard Bailey "Bernie" Kerik is a former New York City Police Commissioner, Secretary of Homeland Security nominee, and now a federal felon. Kerik was New York City Police Commissioner from 2000 to 2001, under Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In December 2004, President George W. Bush nominated Kerik as...
was forced to decline President Bush's offer to replace Tom Ridge
Tom Ridge
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Ridge is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives , the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania , Assistant to the President for Homeland Security , and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security...
, the outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security
United States Secretary of Homeland Security
The United States Secretary of Homeland Security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the body concerned with protecting the American homeland and the safety of American citizens. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. The position was created by the...
. After a lengthy search to find a suitable replacement, Bush nominated Chertoff to the post in January 2005, citing his experience with post-9/11 terror legislation. He was unanimously approved for the position by the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on February 15, 2005.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, most of the criticism was directed toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...
, but DHS was criticized as well for its lack of preparation.
Chertoff was the Bush administration's point man for pushing the comprehensive immigration reform bill, a measure that stalled in the Senate in June 2007.
Chertoff was asked by the Obama administration
Presidency of Barack Obama
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election...
to stay in his post until 9 a.m. on January 21, 2009 (one day after President Obama's inauguration), "to ensure a smooth transition".
Construction of border fence
In April 2008, Chertoff was criticized in a New York Times editorial for waiving the Endangered Species ActEndangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
, the Clean Water Act
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Commonly abbreviated as the CWA, the act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, eliminating additional water pollution by 1985, and ensuring that...
, and other environmental protection
Environmental protection
Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment, on individual, organizational or governmental level, for the benefit of the natural environment and humans. Due to the pressures of population and our technology the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently...
legislation to construct a 700 miles (1,126.5 km) fence along the Mexico–United States border. The Times wrote: "To the long list of things the Bush administration is willing to trash in its rush to appease immigration hard-liners, you can now add dozens of important environmental laws and hundreds of thousands of acres of fragile habitat on the southern border."
According to New York Times columnist Adam Liptak
Adam Liptak
Adam Liptak is an American journalist, lawyer and instructor in journalism. He is currently the Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times. In July 2008, Liptak was assigned to take over coverage of the U.S...
, Chertoff had excluded the Department of Homeland Security from having to follow laws "protecting the environment, endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
, migratory birds, the bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
, antiquities, farms, deserts, forests, Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
graves and religious freedom."
A report issued by the Congressional Research Service
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service , known as "Congress's think tank", is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a...
, the non-partisan research division of the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, said that the unchecked delegation of powers to Chertoff was unprecedented: "After a review of federal law, primarily through electronic database searches and consultations with various CRS experts, we were unable to locate a waiver provision identical to that of §102 of H.R. 418—i.e., a provision that contains 'notwithstanding' language, provides a secretary of an executive agency the authority to waive all laws such secretary determines necessary, and directs the secretary to waive such laws."
Actions regarding illegal immigration
In September 2007, Chertoff told a HouseUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
committee that the DHS would not tolerate interference by sanctuary cities
Sanctuary city
Sanctuary city is a term given to a city in the United States that follows certain practices that protect illegal immigrants. These practices can be by law or they can be by habit...
that would block the "Basic Pilot Program", which requires some types of employers to validate the legal status of their workers. He said that the DHS is exploring its legal options and intends to take action to prevent any interference with the law.
In 2008 it became public that the housekeeping company Chertoff had hired to clean his house employed illegal immigrants.