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. PINGREE, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. VELA, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 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. ROYBALALLARD, 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 


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•HR 197 IH

A BILL 

To ensure independent investigations and judicial review of 

the removal of a special counsel, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Special Counsel Inde5 pendence and Integrity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON REMOVAL OF SPECIAL COUNSEL. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—A special counsel appointed by the 

8 Attorney General, or any other official appointed by the 

9 Attorney General who exercises a similar degree of inde10 pendence from the normal Department of Justice chain 

11 of command, may be removed from office only by the per12 sonal action of an Attorney General who has been con13 firmed by the Senate, or, if the Attorney General is 

14 recused from the matter, the most senior Department of 

15 Justice official who has been confirmed by the Senate and 

16 is not recused from the matter. 

17 (b) REMOVAL FOR CAUSE.—A special counsel or 

18 other appointed official described in subsection (a) may 

19 be removed only for misconduct, dereliction of duty, inca20 pacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including 

21 violation of policies of the Department of Justice. 

22 (c) NOTICE OF REMOVAL.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General or 

2 other Department of Justice official described in 

3 subsection (a), as the case may be, shall provide 

4 written notice to the special counsel or other ap5 pointed official described in subsection (a) of the 

6 specific reason or reasons for the removal. 

7 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REMOVAL.—Except as 

8 provided in subsection (e), removal under this sec9 tion shall become effective on the date that is 10 

10 days after the date on which the written notice was 

11 provided under paragraph (1). 

12 (d) TIMING.—Not later than 10 days after the date 

13 on which written notice was provided under subsection 

14 (c)(1), the special counsel or other appointed official de15 scribed in subsection (a), as the case may be, may file 

16 an action challenging the removal in accordance with sub17 section (e). 

18 (e) REVIEW.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—An individual that received 

20 written notice under subsection (c)(1) may file an 

21 action in accordance with paragraph (2) that the re22 moval was in violation of this Act. 

23 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—Any action filed under 

24 this subsection shall be heard and determined by a 

25 court of 3 judges not later than 14 days after the 


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•HR 197 IH

1 date on which the action is filed in accordance with 

2 the provisions of section 2284 of title 28, United 

3 States Code, and any appeal shall lie to the Supreme 

4 Court. 

5 (3) RELIEF.—If a court determines that the re6 moval of the individual who filed an action under 

7 this subsection violates this Act, the removal shall 

8 not take effect. The court may also provide other ap9 propriate relief. 

10 (4) STATUS DURING PROCEEDINGS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—At the request of the 

12 individual who filed an action under this sub13 section, the court shall determine whether the 

14 individual shall remain in office during the 

15 pendency of the action described in paragraph 

16 (2). 

17 (B) PRESERVATION OF MATERIALS.—Dur18 ing the pendency of an action filed under this 

19 subsection, the staff, documents, and materials 

20 of the special counsel or other appointed official 

21 described in subsection (a) shall be preserved. 

22 (C) LIMITATION.—During the pendency of 

23 an action filed under this subsection, a replace24 ment for the special counsel or other appointed 


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1 official described in subsection (a) who is chal2 lenging the removal shall not be designated. 

3 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall apply to any 

4 special counsel or other appointed official described in sub5 section (a) appointed on or after January 1, 2017. 

6 (g) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 

7 the application of such provision to any person or cir8 cumstance is held to be invalid or unconstitutional, the 

9 remainder of this Act and the application of the provisions 

10 of this Act to any person or circumstance shall remain 

11 and shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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