II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2547 

To improve the procedures for the authentication and the secure and tamperevident delivery and transmission of certain court orders. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 29, 2021 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To improve the procedures for the authentication and the 

secure and tamper-evident delivery and transmission of 

certain court orders. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Authenticity 

5 for Court Orders Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) In recent years, criminals have created 

9 counterfeit court orders which they have used to 


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1 trick telecommunications and technology companies 

2 into performing illegal wiretaps and removing online 

3 content. 

4 (2) Counterfeit court orders threaten public 

5 trust in the courts, and undermine the privacy of the 

6 people of the United States and their rights under 

7 the First Amendment to the Constitution of the 

8 United States. 

9 (3) Secure digital signature technology has ex10 isted for decades that solves this problem. Digital 

11 signatures enable recipients of a digital document to 

12 verify that it was issued by an authorized entity and 

13 that it has not been tampered with or modified since 

14 it was digitally signed. 

15 (4) Since 1994, the National Institute of Stand16 ards and Technology has published Federal Informa17 tion Processing Standard 186–4, which is the official 

18 standard for digital signatures for the Federal Gov19 ernment. 

20 (5) Since 1998, the Government Paperwork 

21 Elimination Act (title XVII of division C of Public 

22 Law 105–277; 112 Stat. 2681–749) and the amend23 ments made by that Act have required Federal exec24 utive branch agencies use digital signatures to con25 duct official business with the public. 


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1 (6) Section 2209 of the Homeland Security Act 

2 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 659), as amended by section 1716 

3 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National De4 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, re5 quires that subpoenas issued by the Cybersecurity 

6 and Infrastructure Security Agency be ‘‘authenti7 cated with a cryptographic digital signature’’ and 

8 that subpoenas lacking such a digital signature 

9 ‘‘shall not be considered to be valid by the recipient 

10 of such subpoena’’. 

11 (7) The legislative branch has also embraced 

12 digital signatures. Every bill posted to congress.gov 

13 is digitally signed by the Government Publishing Of14 fice. 

15 (8) Federal, State, and Tribal courts have not 

16 kept pace with the adoption of digital signature 

17 technology by other branches of government. 

18 (9) Illegal wiretaps by their nature involve the 

19 interception of private communications that flow 

20 over means or instrumentalities of interstate or for21 eign commerce. 

22 (10) Content and data delivered over the inter23 net is a thing in interstate or foreign commerce. To 

24 the extent that a counterfeit court order would re25 sult in that content being removed from the internet, 


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1 that counterfeit order affects things in interstate 

2 and foreign commerce. Congress may therefore take 

3 steps to ensure the authenticity of orders purporting 

4 to require the removal of online content in interstate 

5 or foreign commerce. 

6 (11) Consumers will not continue to do business 

7 with telecommunications and technology companies 

8 if those companies facilitate surveillance of their pri9 vate communications or remove their content in re10 sponse to fraudulent court orders. 

11 (12) The absence of digital signatures from 

12 court orders places an unreasonable economic bur13 den on telecommunications and technology compa14 nies. These companies must either expend significant 

15 effort and resources to manually verify the legit16 imacy of each court order they receive or bear the 

17 risk of significant reputational and financial harm. 

18 (13) The absence of verifiable digital signatures 

19 on court orders therefore creates an unreasonable 

20 burden on interstate or foreign commerce of the 

21 United States, which Congress has the power to 

22 remedy. 

23 (14) The adoption of digital signature tech24 nology by Federal courts alone will not address the 

25 threat of counterfeiting. Criminals have created and 


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1 passed off counterfeit State court orders and will 

2 continue to do so. 

3 (15) As such, the legitimacy of and public trust 

4 in the courts depends upon every court, Federal, 

5 State, and Tribal, adopting digital signature tech6 nology. 

7 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act— 

9 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con10 gress’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on the Judiciary and 

12 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 

13 and 

14 (B) the Committee on the Judiciary and 

15 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

16 of Representatives; 

17 (2) the term ‘‘authorized court officer or em18 ployee’’ means an officer or employee of a Federal, 

19 State, or Tribal court that is authorized by the Fed20 eral, State, or Tribal court to digitally sign covered 

21 orders; 

22 (3) the term ‘‘contains an authentic digital sig23 nature’’, with respect to a covered order, means that 

24 the covered order contains a digital signature— 


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1 (A) by an authorized court officer or em2 ployee of the Federal, State, or Tribal court 

3 issuing the covered order; 

4 (B) that— 

5 (i) complies with the standards cer6 tified and promulgated by the Director of 

7 the Administrative Office of the United 

8 States Courts under section 4(a)(1)(A)(ii); 

9 or 

10 (ii) if the Director of the Administra11 tive Office of the United States Courts 

12 promulgates updated standards under sec13 tion 4(a)(1)(B)(ii), on and after the date 

14 that is 1 year after the date on which the 

15 Director of the Administrative Office of 

16 the United States Courts promulgates a 

17 set of updated standards, complies with 

18 such set of updated standards; and 

19 (C) that confirms that the covered order is 

20 authentic; 

21 (4) the term ‘‘covered order’’ means an order— 

22 (A) directed to a person other than a party 

23 to the proceedings in which the order is en24 tered; and 

25 (B) that is— 


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1 (i) an order authorizing or approving 

2 the interception of a wire communication, 

3 oral communication, or electronic commu4 nication under chapter 119 of title 18, 

5 United States Code, or under an equivalent 

6 State law; 

7 (ii) an order authorizing or approving 

8 the installation and use of a pen register 

9 or a trap and trace device under chapter 

10 206 of title 18, United States Code, or 

11 under an equivalent State law; 

12 (iii) an order for the installation of a 

13 mobile tracking device under section 3117 

14 of title 18, United States Code; 

15 (iv) an order for disclosure under 

16 chapter 121 of title 18, United States 

17 Code; 

18 (v) a search or seizure warrant issued 

19 using the procedures described in the Fed20 eral Rules of Criminal Procedure or in the 

21 case of a State or Tribal court, issued 

22 using State or Tribal warrant procedures; 

23 (vi) in the case of a court-martial or 

24 other proceeding under chapter 47 of title 

25 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of 


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1 Military Justice), a warrant or order 

2 issued under section 846 of that title; 

3 (vii) an order under section 1651 of 

4 title 28, United States Code; 

5 (viii) an order for third party assist6 ance under section 2518(4) or section 

7 3124 of title 18, United States Code; 

8 (ix) an order to enforce the assistance 

9 capability and capacity requirements under 

10 section 2522 of title 18, United States 

11 Code; 

12 (x) an order under section 2705(b) of 

13 title 18, United States Code, prohibiting 

14 notifying other persons; 

15 (xi) an order authorizing electronic 

16 surveillance issued under section 105 of 

17 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 

18 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1805); 

19 (xii) an order authorizing a physical 

20 search issued under section 304 of the 

21 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 

22 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1824); 

23 (xiii) an order requiring the produc24 tion of tangible things issued under section 


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1 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveil2 lance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1861); 

3 (xiv) an order authorizing an acquisi4 tion or targeting that is issued under title 

5 VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveil6 lance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1881 et 

7 seq.); 

8 (xv) an order issued under section 

9 512(j) of title 17, United States Code; 

10 (xvi) an order requiring the removal 

11 or blocking of content published on the 

12 internet; 

13 (xvii) an order that permanently or 

14 temporarily seizes a domain name, includ15 ing by requiring the change of the reg16 istrar of record for the domain name or 

17 preventing the domain name from resolv18 ing to a particular internet protocol ad19 dress; or 

20 (xviii) any other type of order for 

21 which the Judicial Conference of the 

22 United States determines that the use of 

23 digital signatures would result in increased 

24 trust in the courts and reduce the risk and 


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1 impact of fraudulent efforts to impersonate 

2 court orders; 

3 (5) the term ‘‘digital signature’’ has the mean4 ing given the term in section 850.103 of title 5, 

5 Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor there6 to; 

7 (6) the term ‘‘digital signature technology’’ 

8 means cryptographic technology that allows a recipi9 ent of a covered court order to determine that the 

10 covered order— 

11 (A) was issued by a Federal, State, or 

12 Tribal court; and 

13 (B) has not been tampered with or modi14 fied since it was issued by the court; 

15 (7) the term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ has the meaning 

16 given such term in section 102 of the Federally Rec17 ognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 

18 5130); 

19 (8) the term ‘‘provider’’ means an electronic 

20 communication service provider, as defined in section 

21 701(b) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 

22 of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1881(b)); 

23 (9) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 

24 States of the United States, the District of Colum25 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 


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1 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

2 Islands, Guam, and the United States Virgin Is3 lands; and 

4 (10) the term ‘‘Tribal’’ means of or pertaining 

5 to an Indian Tribe. 

6 SEC. 4. ENSURING AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF 

7 COURT ORDERS AFFECTING INTERSTATE 

8 COMMERCE. 

9 (a) STANDARDIZED TECHNOLOGY FOR DIGITAL SIG10 NATURES.— 

11 (1) INITIAL STANDARDS.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, and in 

14 accordance with paragraph (2)— 

15 (i) the Director of the National Insti16 tute of Standards and Technology shall de17 velop proposed standards for the use of 

18 digital signature technology for covered or19 ders, which shall— 

20 (I) be based on open standards; 

21 and 

22 (II) facilitate audits to enable 

23 courts to identify whether cryp24 tographic keys, or an equally secure 

25 successor technology, used to digitally 


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1 authenticate covered orders have been 

2 lost, stolen, or misused; and 

3 (ii) on the basis of the proposed 

4 standards developed under clause (i), the 

5 Director of the Administrative Office of 

6 the United States Courts shall certify and 

7 promulgate standards for the use of digital 

8 signature technology for covered orders. 

9 (B) UPDATING.—In accordance with para10 graph (2)— 

11 (i) not later than 5 years after devel12 oping proposed standards for the use of 

13 digital signature technology for covered or14 ders under subparagraph (A)(i), and every 

15 5 years thereafter, the Director of the Na16 tional Institute of Standards and Tech17 nology shall update such standards; and 

18 (ii) not later than 6 months after re19 ceiving standards updated under clause (i), 

20 and on the basis of such standards, the Di21 rector of the Administrative Office of the 

22 United States Courts shall certify and pro23 mulgate updated standards for the use of 

24 digital signature technology for covered or25 ders. 


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1 (2) CONSULTATION.—In developing or updating 

2 proposed standards and certifying and promulgating 

3 standards under paragraph (1), the Director of the 

4 National Institute of Standards and Technology and 

5 the Director of the Administrative Office of the 

6 United States Courts shall each consult with— 

7 (A) the Attorney General; 

8 (B) the Director of the Cybersecurity and 

9 Infrastructure Security Agency; 

10 (C) the Administrator of General Services; 

11 (D) the Director of the Government Pub12 lishing Office; 

13 (E) the National Center for State Courts; 

14 (F) the National American Indian Court 

15 Judges Association; 

16 (G) independent experts in cybersecurity; 

17 (H) providers; 

18 (I) private entities offering electronic case 

19 management software; and 

20 (J) the Archivist of the United States. 

21 (3) IMPLEMENTATION ASSISTANCE.— 

22 (A) DIGITAL SIGNATURE SERVICE.— 

23 (i) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 

24 any limitations on the authority of the 

25 General Services Administration to provide 


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1 services to State or Tribal entities, the Ad2 ministrator of General Services shall offer 

3 a managed digital signature service to each 

4 Federal, State, or Tribal court that will 

5 allow the court to digitally sign covered or6 ders without the court having to hold and 

7 secure the long-term cryptographic keys 

8 used to digitally authenticate the covered 

9 orders, or an equally secure successor tech10 nology. 

11 (ii) CONSULTATION.—The digital sig12 nature service offered under clause (i) shall 

13 be developed and implemented in consulta14 tion with the Administrative Office of 

15 United States Courts, the National Center 

16 for State Courts, the National American 

17 Indian Court Judges Association, the Gov18 ernment Publishing Office, and the Direc19 tor of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 

20 Security Agency. 

21 (iii) REQUIREMENTS.—The digital 

22 signature service offered under clause (i) 

23 shall be designed to— 

24 (I) permit an authorized court of25 ficer or employee of a Federal, State, 


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1 or Tribal court to digitally sign cov2 ered orders from a court office and 

3 while teleworking; and 

4 (II) be continuously available for 

5 use. 

6 (B) USE.—If a Federal, State, or Tribal 

7 court elects to use the managed digital signa8 ture service offered under subparagraph (A), 

9 the General Services Administration shall pro10 vide an online service, available both through a 

11 publicly-documented and publicly-available ap12 plication programming interface and through 

13 secure and public websites, that enable author14 ized court officers and employees to digitally 

15 sign a covered order and recipients of a covered 

16 order and other third parties to verify that the 

17 covered order has a valid digital signature at no 

18 cost to the recipient or third party. 

19 (C) NO COST TO COURTS.—The Adminis20 trator of General Services shall provide the 

21 managed digital signature service to Federal, 

22 State, and Tribal courts under this paragraph 

23 at no cost to the court. 

24 (D) REIMBURSEMENT.—The Attorney 

25 General shall reimburse the Administrator of 


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1 General Services for the costs of building, oper2 ating, and maintaining the managed digital sig3 nature service for Federal, State, and Tribal 

4 courts. 

5 (b) DIGITAL SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FED6 ERAL COURT ORDERS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

8 (A) PILOTING THE USE OF DIGITAL SIGNA9 TURES.—Beginning not later than 2 years after 

10 the date on which the standards are certified 

11 and promulgated by the Director of the Admin12 istrative Office of the United States Courts 

13 under subsection (a)(1)(A)(ii), not less than 1 

14 district court of the United States in each Fed15 eral judicial circuit shall use digital signature 

16 technology that complies with the standards to 

17 authenticate all covered orders issued by that 

18 court. 

19 (B) REQUIRED USE OF DIGITAL SIGNA20 TURE TECHNOLOGY.— 

21 (i) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later 

22 than 4 years after the date on which the 

23 standards are certified and promulgated by 

24 the Director of the Administrative Office 

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1 section (a)(1)(A)(ii), each Federal court 

2 shall use digital signature technology that 

3 complies with the standards to authen4 ticate all covered orders issued by the 

5 court. 

6 (ii) UPDATES.—Not later than 1 year 

7 after the date on which updated standards 

8 are certified and promulgated by the Di9 rector of the Administrative Office of the 

10 United States Courts under subsection 

11 (a)(1)(B)(ii), each Federal court system 

12 shall update the digital signature tech13 nology used by the court to comply with 

14 the updated standards. 

15 (C) PLAN FOR LOSS OR THEFT.—Each 

16 Federal court using digital signature technology 

17 shall develop, and update not less frequently 

18 than every 2 years, a written plan to respond 

19 to the loss or theft of the encryption keys, ac20 cess credentials, or any successor technology 

21 used to digitally sign covered orders. 

22 (2) MANDATORY USE OF DIGITAL SIGNA23 TURES.—Except as provided in subsections (d) and 

24 (i), on and after the date that is 6 years after the 

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1 gated by the Director of the Administrative Office of 

2 the United States Courts under subsection 

3 (a)(1)(A)(ii), a Federal court may not issue a cov4 ered order unless the covered order contains an au5 thentic digital signature. 

6 (c) DIGITAL SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE

7 AND TRIBAL COURT ORDERS.— 

8 (1) FULL FAITH AND CREDIT REQUIRE9 MENTS.—Section 1738 of title 28, United States 

10 Code, is amended— 

11 (A) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘The Acts’’; 

12 (B) by inserting ‘‘(b)’’ before ‘‘The 

13 records’’; 

14 (C) by striking ‘‘Such Acts,’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), 

16 such Acts,’’; and 

17 (D) in subsection (c), as so designated, by 

18 adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(2)(A) In this paragraph, the terms ‘contains an au20 thentic digital signature’, ‘covered order’, ‘digital signa21 ture’, ‘State’, and ‘Tribal’ have the meanings given such 

22 terms in section 3 of the Digital Authenticity for Court 

23 Orders Act of 2021. 


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1 ‘‘(B) A document purporting to be a covered order 

2 issued by a State or Tribal court shall be entitled to full 

3 faith and credit only if— 

4 ‘‘(i)(I) the document contains an authentic dig5 ital signature; 

6 ‘‘(II) the document was served with a certificate 

7 of authenticity in accordance with section 4(d)(1) of 

8 the Digital Authenticity for Court Orders Act of 

9 2021; or 

10 ‘‘(III) the document was issued pursuant to a 

11 waiver under section 4(d)(2) of the Digital Authen12 ticity for Court Orders Act of 2021; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) the State or Tribal court includes with the 

14 document a statement certifying that the court has 

15 (and has updated on or after the date that is 2 

16 years before the date on which the covered order is 

17 issued) a written plan to respond to the loss or theft 

18 of the encryption keys, access credentials, or any 

19 successor technology used to digitally sign covered 

20 orders.’’. 

21 (2) WIRETAPPING.—Section 2516(2) of title 

22 18, United States Code, is amended by striking 

23 ‘‘The principal prosecuting attorney of any State’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘If a State requires that an order de25 scribed in this subsection issued by the State court 


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1 contains an authentic digital signature (as defined in 

2 section 3 of the Digital Authenticity for Court Or3 ders Act of 2021), the principal prosecuting attorney 

4 of that State’’. 

5 (3) STORED COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRE6 MENTS.—Chapter 121 of title 18, United States 

7 Code, is amended— 

8 (A) in section 2703, by inserting ‘‘and con9 taining an authentic digital signature (as de10 fined in section 3 of the Digital Authenticity for 

11 Court Orders Act of 2021)’’ after ‘‘warrant pro12 cedures’’ each place it appears; and 

13 (B) in section 2711(3)(B), by inserting ‘‘, 

14 if the court requires that each covered order 

15 issued by the court contains an authentic digital 

16 signature (as such terms are defined in section 

17 3 of the Digital Authenticity for Court Orders 

18 Act of 2021)’’ after ‘‘search warrants’’. 

19 (4) PEN REGISTERS AND TRAP AND TRACE DE20 VICES.—Section 3122(a)(2) of title 18, United 

21 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘and if the 

22 State requires that such an order issued by the 

23 State court contains an authentic digital signature 

24 (as defined in section 3 of the Digital Authenticity 


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1 for Court Orders Act of 2021),’’ after ‘‘prohibited by 

2 State law,’’. 

3 (5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in 

4 subsection (i), the amendments made by paragraphs 

5 (1) through (4) shall take effect on the date that is 

6 6 years after the date on which the Director of the 

7 Administrative Office of the United States Courts 

8 certifies and promulgates standards for the use of 

9 digital signature technology for covered orders under 

10 subsection (a)(1)(A)(ii). 

11 (d) FAILURE OF DIGITAL SIGNATURE TECH12 NOLOGY.— 

13 (1) INDIVIDUAL COURTS.—If the digital signa14 ture technology of a Federal, State, or Tribal court 

15 is not operational, upon request by an officer or em16 ployee of the Federal, State, or Tribal court who is 

17 authorized to digitally sign covered orders, and if the 

18 Attorney General determines that a covered court 

19 order is authentic, the Attorney General may serve 

20 on the provider by personal service the covered court 

21 order and a certification stating that the covered 

22 court order is authentic. 

23 (2) WIDESPREAD OUTAGE.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the digital signature 

25 technology of not less than 5 Federal, State, or 


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1 Tribal courts is not operational, the Chief Jus2 tice of the United States may issue a waiver for 

3 a period of not more than 30 days that waives 

4 the application of each of the following: 

5 (i) The requirements under subsection 

6 (b)(2) with respect to Federal courts. 

7 (ii) The limits on full faith and credit 

8 for covered orders issued by State and 

9 Tribal courts under paragraph (2) of sec10 tion 1738(c) of title 28, United States 

11 Code, as added by subsection (c) of this 

12 section. 

13 (B) RENEWALS.— A waiver described in 

14 subparagraph (A) may be renewed for addi15 tional periods of not more than 30 days. 

16 (C) NOTICE.—The Chief Justice of the 

17 United States shall submit to the appropriate 

18 committees of Congress and make publicly 

19 available on the website of the Supreme Court 

20 of the United States notice of each waiver and 

21 renewal of a waiver under this paragraph. 

22 (3) SUBSEQUENT SERVICE OF DIGITALLY

23 SIGNED ORDER BY FEDERAL COURTS.—If a covered 

24 order of a Federal, State, or Tribal court is served 

25 on a provider under paragraph (1) or pursuant to a 


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1 waiver under paragraph (2), after the digital signa2 ture technology of the Federal, State, or Tribal 

3 court is operational, the party who obtained the ini4 tial order shall obtain and serve on the provider an 

5 identical covered order that meets the requirements 

6 under subsection (b)(2) or paragraph (2) of section 

7 1738(c) of title 28, United States Code, as applica8 ble. 

9 (4) INFORMATION REGARDING FAILURE OF DIG10 ITAL SIGNATURE TECHNOLOGY.— 

11 (A) PUBLIC LIST OF NONOPERATIONAL

12 SYSTEMS.—The Attorney General shall make 

13 publicly available on the website of the Depart14 ment of Justice a list of each Federal, State, or 

15 Tribal court for which the digital signature 

16 technology is not operational, which shall in17 clude— 

18 (i) the period during which the Attor19 ney General approved 1 or more covered 

20 court orders of the Federal, State, or Trib21 al court under paragraph (1); and 

22 (ii) information indicating the meas23 ures a provider can take to verify that a 

24 covered court order and certification served 

25 under paragraph (1) are authentic. 


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1 (B) NOTICE TO CONGRESS.—If the digital 

2 signature technology of a Federal, State, or 

3 Tribal court is not operational for a period of 

4 not less than 10 days, the Attorney General 

5 shall notify the appropriate committees of Con6 gress. 

7 (e) LIMIT ON IMMUNITY PROVISIONS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub9 section (i), on and after the date that is 6 years 

10 after the date on which the standards are certified 

11 and promulgated by the Director of the Administra12 tive Office of the United States Courts under sub13 section (a)(1)(A)(ii), the provisions of law described 

14 in paragraph (2) of this subsection shall only apply 

15 with respect to the provision of documents, data, or 

16 other information by a provider that removes con17 tent or makes available documents, data, or other in18 formation in response to a document purporting to 

19 be a covered order issued by a Federal, State, or 

20 Tribal court if— 

21 (A) the document contains an authentic 

22 digital signature; 

23 (B)(i) the document was served with a cer24 tificate of authenticity in accordance with sub25 section (d)(1); and 


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1 (ii) the provider— 

2 (I) verified that the court that issued 

3 the order is listed on the website of the 

4 Department of Justice as having non5 operational digital signature technology; 

6 and 

7 (II) takes the measures listed by the 

8 Attorney General to verify that a covered 

9 court order and certification served under 

10 subsection (d)(1) are authentic; or 

11 (C) the document was issued pursuant to 

12 a waiver under subsection (d)(2). 

13 (2) PROVISIONS OF LAW.—The provisions of 

14 law described in this paragraph are the following: 

15 (A) Section 512 of title 17, United States 

16 Code. 

17 (B) Section 2520(d)(1) of title 18, United 

18 States Code. 

19 (C) Section 2707(e) of title 18, United 

20 States Code. 

21 (D) Section 105(i) of the Foreign Intel22 ligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 

23 1805(i)). 


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1 (E) Section 402(f) of the Foreign Intel2 ligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 

3 1842(f)). 

4 (F) Section 702(i)(3) of the Foreign Intel5 ligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 

6 1881a(i)(3)). 

7 (G) Section 703(e) of the Foreign Intel8 ligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 

9 1881b(e)). 

10 (H) Title VIII of the Foreign Intelligence 

11 Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1885 et 

12 seq.). 

13 (f) GRANTS.—The Administrative Office of United 

14 States Courts may make grants to State and Tribal courts 

15 for the cost of implementing digital signature technology, 

16 including to develop and implement training and edu17 cational resources, in accordance with this Act. 

18 (g) IMMUNITY.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub20 section (i), on and after the date that is 6 years 

21 after the date on which the Director of the Adminis22 trative Office of the United States Courts certifies 

23 and promulgates standards for the use of digital sig24 nature technology for covered orders under sub25 section (a)(1)(A)(ii), a person may not be held liable 


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•S 2547 IS

1 in any Federal, State, or Tribal administrative, civil, 

2 or criminal proceeding, including for contempt of 

3 court, for failing to comply with a covered order 

4 issued by a Federal, State, or Tribal court, respec5 tively, if the covered order does not meet one of the 

6 following requirements: 

7 (A) The covered order contains an authen8 tic digital signature. 

9 (B) The covered order was served with a 

10 certificate of authenticity in accordance with 

11 subsection (d)(1). 

12 (C) The covered order was issued pursuant 

13 to a waiver under subsection (d)(2). 

14 (2) COSTS.—In any action brought to enforce 

15 compliance with a covered order that, except as pro16 vided in subsection (i), was issued on or after the 

17 date that is 6 years after the date on which the Di18 rector of the Administrative Office of the United 

19 States Courts certifies and promulgates standards 

20 for the use of digital signature technology for cov21 ered orders under subsection (a)(1)(A)(ii), if the 

22 court finds that the covered order does not meet the 

23 requirements described in subparagraph (A), (B), or 

24 (C) of paragraph (1) of this subsection, the court 

25 shall award to the person against whom the action 


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•S 2547 IS

1 was brought costs of litigation (including reasonable 

2 attorney fees). 

3 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec5 essary to carry out this Act, including for the Administra6 tive Office of United States Courts to make grants under 

7 subsection (f) and to upgrade the Case Management/Elec8 tronic Case Files System of the Federal Courts. 

9 (i) DELAY OF EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Judicial Con10 ference of the United States may delay the effective dates 

11 under subsection (b)(2), subsection (c)(3), subsection 

12 (e)(1) and subsection (g) to be the date that is 8 years 

13 after the date on which the Director of the Administrative 

14 Office of the United States Courts certifies and promul15 gates standards for the use of digital signature technology 

16 for covered orders under subsection (a)(1)(A)(ii). 

17 SEC. 5. PREEMPTION. 

18 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

19 preempt any State or Tribal law to the extent that such 

20 State law is inconsistent with a provision of this Act or 

21 an amendment made by this Act. 

22 SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 

23 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 

24 this Act, or the application of such a provision or amend25 ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:48 Aug 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2547.IS S2547

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1 stitutional, the remaining provisions of and amendments 

2 made by this Act, and the application of the provision or 

3 amendment held to be unconstitutional to any other per4 son or circumstance, shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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