--- title: Congress Will Read Stanford Sexual-Assault Victim's Letter description: U.S. Representative Jackie Speier will lead a bipartisan exercise in reading the Stanford sexual assault victim's statement aloud canonical: https://time.com/4363663/congress-stanford-sexual-assault-brock-turner/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-09T23:43:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:30:45.565Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congress Will Read the Stanford Sexual-Assault Victim's Letter Aloud og:description: The statement will be entered into congressional record og:url: https://time.com/4363663/congress-stanford-sexual-assault-brock-turner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86041a5e06e8de67/69889732ab6d77ae356aa019/jackie-speier.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Women's Health Presser og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congress Will Read the Stanford Sexual-Assault Victim's Letter Aloud twitter:description: The statement will be entered into congressional record twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86041a5e06e8de67/69889732ab6d77ae356aa019/jackie-speier.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congress Will Read Stanford Sexual-Assault Victim's Letter Aloud by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jun 9, 2016 11:43 PM UTC  California Representative Jackie Speier attends a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2016 California Representative Jackie Speier attends a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2016Tom Williams—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jun 9, 2016 11:43 PM UTC Members of Congress will [read the letter](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stanford-sexual-assault-victim-letter-congress%5Fus%5F5758d597e4b00f97fba74969?section=politics) from the woman who was sexually assaulted by a former Stanford University student on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Next week, California Representative Jackie Speier will sponsor a special order, according to the Huffington Post, where fellow members will read from [the statement](http://motto.time.com/4357618/stanford-sexual-assault-victim-letter/) over the course of an hour. It is expected to be a bipartisan exercise. Speier and Texas Representative Ted Poe read excerpts from the victims letter on the House floor Thursday, putting the word’s of the woman into the congressional record. [Brock Turner](http://motto.time.com/4361069/stanford-victim-explains-staying-anonymous-for-now-i-am-every-woman/), then a member of the Stanford swim team, was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman in January 2015 and the trial — [especially Turner’s sentencing](http://time.com/4363538/brock-turner-stanford-sexual-assault-swimmer/), which critics have said is too lenient — has attracted national attention. The victim in the case read her statement aloud in court and published it online last week, where it went viral. Vice President Joe Biden [penned an open letter in response to the statement earlier Thursday](http://time.com/4363084/joe-biden-standford-sexual-assault/), noting that her words and bravery meant something to victims of sexual assault across the world. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4363663/congress-stanford-sexual-assault-brock-turner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4363663/congress-stanford-sexual-assault-brock-turner/"},"headline":"Congress Will Read Stanford Sexual-Assault Victim's Letter Aloud","datePublished":"2016-06-09T23:43:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:30:45.565Z","description":"The statement will be entered into congressional record","url":"https://time.com/4363663/congress-stanford-sexual-assault-brock-turner/","keywords":["Congress","Sexual Assault","House of Representatives","Stanford"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86041a5e06e8de67/69889732ab6d77ae356aa019/jackie-speier.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86041a5e06e8de67/69889732ab6d77ae356aa019/jackie-speier.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Women's Health Presser","caption":"Women's Health Presser","creditText":"Tom Williams—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4363663/congress-stanford-sexual-assault-brock-turner/","name":"Congress Will Read Stanford Sexual-Assault Victim's Letter Aloud"}}]}] ```