IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1509 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the next president 

of the United States should immediately work to reverse damaging and 

illegal actions taken by the Bush/Cheney Administration and collaborate 

with Congress to proactively prevent any further abuses of executive 

branch power. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2008 

Ms. BALDWIN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Armed 

Services, Foreign Affairs, and Select Intelligence (Permanent Select), for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the next president of the United States should immediately work to reverse damaging and illegal actions 

taken by the Bush/Cheney Administration and collaborate with Congress to proactively prevent any further 

abuses of executive branch power. 

Whereas over the past several years, serious questions have 

been raised about the conduct of high ranking Bush/Cheney Administration officials in relation to some of the 

most basic elements of our democracy: respect for the 


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•HRES 1509 IH 

rule of law, the principle of checks and balances, and the 

fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights; 

Whereas the Bush/Cheney Administration misled the American public and the U.S. Congress regarding the threat 

of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and alleged, despite 

all evidence to the contrary, a relationship between Iraq 

and al Qaeda, and this deceit dragged our country into 

a preemptive and unjustified war that has taken the lives 

of more than 4,000 United States troops, injured 30,000 

more, and will cost our nation more than a trillion dollars; 

Whereas the Bush/Cheney Administration undermined national security by manipulating and exaggerating evidence of Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities despite no 

real evidence that Iran had the intention or capability of 

attacking the United Sates, and then deliberately 

downplayed the December 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that reported with ‘‘high confidence’’ that Iran 

stopped developing nuclear weapons in 2003 because of 

international pressure; 

Whereas the Bush/Cheney Administration has undertaken a 

broad assault on civil liberties through the suspension of 

habeas corpus and claiming the power to declare any person an ‘‘enemy combatant,’’ blatantly ignoring the Geneva Convention protections that the United States helped 

create, ratify, and which carry the weight of law; 

Whereas the Bush/Cheney Administration endorsed the torture and rendition of prisoners in violation of stated 

American policy and values, as well as international law, 

and then destroyed videotapes which may have substantiated such torture; 


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Whereas the Bush/Cheney Administration violated the Fourth 

Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 

of 1978 by spying on Americans without a court order 

or oversight; 

Whereas the Bush/Cheney Administration abused the state 

secrets privilege in recent legal challenges regarding 

warrantless wiretapping, torture, and rendition, and this 

administration’s use of the state secrets privilege has 

been to the detriment of the rights of private litigants 

harmed by egregious misconduct, as well as Americans’ 

trust in the judicial system; 

Whereas Bush/Cheney Administration officials have consistently impeded congressional investigations into allegations of wrongdoing by refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas; 

Whereas Bush/Cheney Administration claims that senior 

presidential advisers are immune from congressional subpoenas have impeded congressional oversight, undermined 

the rule of law, damaged our democracy, and have been 

rejected by a United States district court; 

Whereas United States Attorneys pursued politically motivated prosecutions in violation of the law, and allegedly 

at the direction of the Bush/Cheney Administration; 

Whereas Bush/Cheney Administration officials in the Department of Justice systematically violated the law and committed misconduct in basing hiring decisions for career 

prosecutor positions, detailees to senior Department offices, and immigration judgeships on the applicants’ political affiliations and views; 

Whereas it appears Bush/Cheney Administration officials intentionally revealed the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson 


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as a covert agent of the CIA for political retribution, and 

then intentionally obstructed justice by disseminating 

false information through the White House press office; 

Whereas President Bush has shown contempt for the legislative branch and disregard for the law through the excessive expansion of presidential power in misusing signing 

statements that declare his intent to ignore provisions of 

legislation he has signed into law; 

Whereas Bush/Cheney Administration officials have systematically shielded from access and destroyed public documents relevant to the conduct of the administration by 

utilizing nongovernmental email accounts for official communications; 

Whereas Vice President Cheney has consistently placed selfinterest over serving the American people, exemplified by 

his claim that the Office of the Vice President is not an 

entity within the executive branch for the alleged purpose 

of shielding the activities of his office from public scrutiny; 

Whereas President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other 

Bush/Cheney Administration officials have been presented with ample opportunities to collaborate with Congress and reverse the above listed damaging and abusive 

actions; 

Whereas despite these opportunities, they instead choose to 

show contempt for the Constitution and the legislative 

branch, compelling Americans and Congress to look to 

the next administration for executive branch accountability; 

Whereas on November 4, 2008, Americans will elect the next 

president of the United States; 


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Whereas on January 20, 2009, the next president of the 

United States will stand before the American people and 

take an oath of office, swearing to ‘‘. . . preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States’’; 

Whereas this commitment and obligation is so fundamental 

to our democracy that our Nation’s founders proscribed 

this oath in our Constitution; 

Whereas no President or Congress has the authority to override that document, whereby ‘‘We the People’’ conferred 

upon the branches of government limited and defined 

power, and provided for meaningful checks and balances; 

and 

Whereas the actions taken by the next president of the 

United States will impact the conduct of future presidents, perhaps for generations: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the next President of the United States 

3 should take the necessary steps to do the following: 

4 (1) AFFIRM OUR NATION’S COMMITMENT TO

5 UPHOLDING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED

6 STATES.—The next president must immediately and 

7 publicly reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to the 

8 rule of law, the principle of checks and balances, re9 spect for the legislative process, and the funda10 mental freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights. 

11 (2) FULLY INVESTIGATE BUSH/CHENEY ADMIN12 ISTRATION OFFICIALS’ ALLEGED CRIMES AND HOLD

13 THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY ILLEGAL ACTS.—The 


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1 next President must cooperate fully with congres2 sional oversight efforts to establish an independent 

3 investigation, as well as to address potential statute 

4 of limitation concerns, in order to hold all Bush/Che5 ney Administration officials accountable for any 

6 crimes they may have committed. 

7 (3) HOLD ACCOUNTABLE BUSH/CHENEY ADMIN8 ISTRATION OFFICIALS WHO SHOWED OR SHOW CON9 TEMPT FOR THE LEGAL DUTY TO COMPLY WITH

10 CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS.—The next President 

11 must fully support Congress’ constitutionally rooted 

12 right of access to the information it needs to per13 form its legislative and oversight functions enun14 ciated in Article I of the Constitution. 

15 (4) HOLD ACCOUNTABLE BUSH/CHENEY ADMIN16 ISTRATION OFFICIALS WHO DISCLOSED THE IDEN17 TITY OF ANY COVERT INTELLIGENCE AGENT.—The 

18 next President must cooperate fully with congres19 sional efforts to ensure that the disclosure of the 

20 identity of any United States intelligence agent 

21 could give rise to criminal liability. 

22 (5) HOLD ACCOUNTABLE BUSH/CHENEY ADMIN23 ISTRATION OFFICIALS WHO PURSUE POLITICALLY

24 MOTIVATED PROSECUTIONS.—The next President 

25 must cooperate fully with congressional efforts to reVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:44 Sep 28, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1509.IH HR1509

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1 store faith in the American justice system by inves2 tigating and censuring any officials who engage in 

3 misconduct in Federal office. 

4 (6) ENSURE THAT ANY BUSH/CHENEY ADMINIS5 TRATION OFFICIAL GUILTY OF A WAR CRIME IS

6 PROSECUTED UNDER THE WAR CRIMES ACT AND

7 THE ANTI-TORTURE ACT.—The next President must 

8 cooperate fully with congressional efforts to repeal 

9 the redefinition of grave abuses of Common Article 

10 3 included in the Military Commissions Act of 2006, 

11 which limits the scope of the original War Crimes 

12 Act and makes this repeal retroactively operable to 

13 the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. The next 

14 President must also cooperate fully with congres15 sional investigations into the lack of prosecutions 

16 under the War Crimes Act and the Federal Anti17 Torture Act despite countless allegations of serious 

18 violations. 

19 (7) AFFIRM THAT IT IS THE SOLE LEGAL

20 RIGHT OF CONGRESS TO DECLARE WAR.—The next 

21 President must cooperate fully with congressional ef22 forts to tighten the standards for when a declaration 

23 of war is required for military action. 

24 (8) CRIMINALIZE LYING TO CONGRESS AND THE

25 AMERICAN PUBLIC ABOUT THE REASONS FOR GOING


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1 TO WAR.—The next President must cooperate fully 

2 with congressional efforts to strengthen Federal per3 jury laws to prohibit the issuance of false state4 ments, concealment, or false documentation in any 

5 matter related to a presidential request for a dec6 laration of war. 

7 (9) RESTORE THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS AS

8 AN ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLE OF OUR DEMOCRACY.— 

9 The next President must reaffirm our Nation’s trea10 ty obligations under the Geneva Conventions and en11 sure all individuals held by the United States have 

12 access to the courts to petition for a writ of habeas 

13 corpus. 

14 (10) ENSURE TORTURE IS UNIFORMLY PROHIB15 ITED UNDER UNITED STATES LAW.—The next presi16 dent must cooperate fully with congressional efforts 

17 to codify anti-torture language and approve uniform 

18 standards for interrogation techniques applicable to 

19 individuals under control or custody of the United 

20 States Government. 

21 (11) ENSURE RENDITION IS UNIFORMLY PRO22 HIBITED UNDER UNITED STATES LAW.—The next 

23 president must cooperate fully with congressional ef24 forts to outlaw torture ‘‘outsourcing’’ by prohibiting 

25 the direct or indirect transfer or return of persons 


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1 by the United States for the purpose of detention, 

2 interrogation, trial, or otherwise to a country listed 

3 by the Secretary of State as supporting torture, 

4 cruel, or degrading treatment used in detention or 

5 interrogation of individuals. 

6 (12) IMMEDIATELY CLOSE THE GUANTANAMO

7 BAY DETENTION CAMP.—The next President must 

8 do everything in his power to ensure that all sus9 pected terrorists held at Guantanamo are imme10 diately tried in fair judicial proceedings and are not 

11 subjected to trial by secret evidence. He must also 

12 engage the international community to ensure the 

13 release of innocent detainees. 

14 (13) ENSURE THAT AMERICANS CAN BRING

15 CLAIMS AGAINST THEIR GOVERNMENT.—The next 

16 President must guarantee that the state secrets 

17 privilege shall not constitute grounds for dismissal of 

18 a case or claim and instead require independent ju19 dicial review of claims of state secrets privilege by 

20 executive branch officials. 

21 (14) IMMEDIATELY TAKE AFFIRMATIVE STEPS

22 TO PROTECT ALL BUSH/CHENEY ADMINISTRATION

23 DOCUMENTS.—The next president must also publicly 

24 reaffirm that the Office of the Vice President is part 

25 of the executive branch. 


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1 (15) PUBLICLY REVIEW POTENTIAL ABUSES OF

2 THE PRESIDENTIAL PARDON PROCESS.—The next 

3 president must collaborate fully with Congress to in4 vestigate the granting of presidential pardons and 

5 articulate comprehensive standards to guide future 

6 presidential pardons. 

7 (16) REFORM THE USE OF PRESIDENTIAL

8 SIGNING STATEMENTS.—The next president must 

9 commit to providing all signing statements for publi10 cation, affirm Congress’ right to participate in court 

11 proceedings regarding the constitutionality of any 

12 presidential signing statements, and ensure that 

13 Congress can obtain testimony from administration 

14 officials who may attempt to claim executive privi15 lege to explain or justify any signing statements. 

Æ 


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