Washington (CNN) The Justice Department on Sunday defended its request to Congress for certain "emergency powers" amid the coronavirus pandemic after lawmakers and legal advocates said that some of the proposals infringed on civil rights.

Last week, the Justice Department submitted a list of requests to lawmakers that would alter the timelines that legal cases unfold on as courts have slowed down and closed across the country, according to documents obtained by CNN.

The proposals, which included clarifying language around federal judges' ability to delay or prolong criminal and civil cases, drew swift criticism from progressives and civil libertarians, who claimed that the asks were an attempted power grab by the Trump administration.

"We have to keep an eye out for these kind of authoritarian and, frankly, for these -- this expansion of -- and -- rather, and suspension of rule of law. It does not matter how urgent times are. We have to make sure that we retain our civil rights," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday.

In a series of tweets late Sunday, DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec pushed back, saying that the proposals were made to "promote consistency" and would empower judges, not the executive branch.

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