Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 197 To ensure independent investigations and judicial review of the removal of a special counsel, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. NADLER (for himself, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. COHEN, Ms. SPEIER, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. WATERS, Mr. BERA, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. LIPINSKI, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. KILMER, Mr. TONKO, Ms. MENG, Mr. RYAN, Ms. PIN- GREE, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. VELA, Mrs. NAPOLI- TANO, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. COOPER, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. POCAN, Mr. BEYER, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CLAY, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. CRIST, Mr. MOULTON, Miss RICE of New York, Ms. ROYBAL- ALLARD, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. EVANS, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. FRANKEL, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. WELCH, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. SHERMAN, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. PETERS, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mrs. MURPHY, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. SOTO, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. HECK, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. SIRES, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. LAMB, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. KIND, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. RUSH, and Ms. TITUS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H197.IH H197 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 197 IH A BILL To ensure independent investigations and judicial review of the removal of a special counsel, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Special Counsel Inde- 4 pendence and Integrity Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON REMOVAL OF SPECIAL COUNSEL. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—A special counsel appointed by the 7 Attorney General, or any other official appointed by the 8 Attorney General who exercises a similar degree of inde- 9 pendence from the normal Department of Justice chain 10 of command, may be removed from office only by the per- 11 sonal action of an Attorney General who has been con- 12 firmed by the Senate, or, if the Attorney General is 13 recused from the matter, the most senior Department of 14 Justice official who has been confirmed by the Senate and 15 is not recused from the matter. 16 (b) REMOVAL FOR CAUSE.—A special counsel or 17 other appointed official described in subsection (a) may 18 be removed only for misconduct, dereliction of duty, inca- 19 pacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including 20 violation of policies of the Department of Justice. 21 (c) NOTICE OF REMOVAL.— 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H197.IH H197 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 197 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General or 1 other Department of Justice official described in 2 subsection (a), as the case may be, shall provide 3 written notice to the special counsel or other ap- 4 pointed official described in subsection (a) of the 5 specific reason or reasons for the removal. 6 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REMOVAL.—Except as 7 provided in subsection (e), removal under this sec- 8 tion shall become effective on the date that is 10 9 days after the date on which the written notice was 10 provided under paragraph (1). 11 (d) TIMING.—Not later than 10 days after the date 12 on which written notice was provided under subsection 13 (c)(1), the special counsel or other appointed official de- 14 scribed in subsection (a), as the case may be, may file 15 an action challenging the removal in accordance with sub- 16 section (e). 17 (e) REVIEW.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—An individual that received 19 written notice under subsection (c)(1) may file an 20 action in accordance with paragraph (2) that the re- 21 moval was in violation of this Act. 22 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—Any action filed under 23 this subsection shall be heard and determined by a 24 court of 3 judges not later than 14 days after the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H197.IH H197 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 197 IH date on which the action is filed in accordance with 1 the provisions of section 2284 of title 28, United 2 States Code, and any appeal shall lie to the Supreme 3 Court. 4 (3) RELIEF.—If a court determines that the re- 5 moval of the individual who filed an action under 6 this subsection violates this Act, the removal shall 7 not take effect. The court may also provide other ap- 8 propriate relief. 9 (4) STATUS DURING PROCEEDINGS.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—At the request of the 11 individual who filed an action under this sub- 12 section, the court shall determine whether the 13 individual shall remain in office during the 14 pendency of the action described in paragraph 15 (2). 16 (B) PRESERVATION OF MATERIALS.—Dur- 17 ing the pendency of an action filed under this 18 subsection, the staff, documents, and materials 19 of the special counsel or other appointed official 20 described in subsection (a) shall be preserved. 21 (C) LIMITATION.—During the pendency of 22 an action filed under this subsection, a replace- 23 ment for the special counsel or other appointed 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H197.IH H197 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 197 IH official described in subsection (a) who is chal- 1 lenging the removal shall not be designated. 2 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall apply to any 3 special counsel or other appointed official described in sub- 4 section (a) appointed on or after January 1, 2017. 5 (g) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 6 the application of such provision to any person or cir- 7 cumstance is held to be invalid or unconstitutional, the 8 remainder of this Act and the application of the provisions 9 of this Act to any person or circumstance shall remain 10 and shall not be affected thereby. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H197.IH H197 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS