IIB 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4138 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 13, 2014 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To protect the separation of powers in the Constitution of 

the United States by ensuring that the President takes 

care that the laws be faithfully executed, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Executive Needs to 

3 Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enact4 ments of the Law Act of 2014’’ or the ‘‘ENFORCE the 

5 Law Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION TO BRING CIVIL ACTION FOR VIO7 LATION OF THE TAKE CARE CLAUSE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Upon the adoption of a resolution 

9 of a House of Congress declaring that the President, the 

10 head of any department or agency of the United States, 

11 or any other officer or employee of the United States has 

12 established or implemented a formal or informal policy, 

13 practice, or procedure to refrain from enforcing, applying, 

14 following, or administering any provision of a Federal 

15 statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law in 

16 violation of the requirement that the President take care 

17 that the laws be faithfully executed under Article II, sec18 tion 3, clause 5, of the Constitution of the United States, 

19 that House is authorized to bring a civil action in accord20 ance with subsection (c), and to seek relief pursuant to 

21 sections 2201 and 2202 of title 28, United States Code. 

22 A civil action brought pursuant to this subsection may be 

23 brought by a single House or both Houses of Congress 

24 jointly, if both Houses have adopted such a resolution. 


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1 (b) RESOLUTION DESCRIBED.—For the purposes of 

2 subsection (a), the term ‘‘resolution’’ means only a resolu3 tion— 

4 (1) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘Relating to 

5 the application of Article II, section 3, clause 5, of 

6 the Constitution of the United States.’’; 

7 (2) which does not have a preamble; and 

8 (3) the matter after the resolving clause which 

9 is as follows: ‘‘That lllllll has failed to 

10 meet the requirement of Article II, section 3, clause 

11 5, of the Constitution of the United States to take 

12 care that a law be faithfully executed, with respect 

13 to lllllllll.’’ (the blank spaces being 

14 appropriately filled in with the President or the per15 son on behalf of the President, and the administra16 tive action in question described in subsection (a), 

17 respectively). 

18 (c) SPECIAL RULES.—If the House of Representa19 tives or the Senate brings a civil action pursuant to sub20 section (a), the following rules shall apply: 

21 (1) The action shall be filed in a United States 

22 district court of competent jurisdiction and shall be 

23 heard by a 3-judge court convened pursuant to sec24 tion 2284 of title 28, United States Code. 


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1 (2) A final decision in the action shall be re2 viewable only by appeal directly to the Supreme 

3 Court of the United States. Such appeal shall be 

4 taken by the filing of a notice of appeal within 10 

5 days, and the filing of a jurisdictional statement 

6 within 30 days, of the entry of the final decision. 

7 (3) It shall be the duty of the United States 

8 district courts and the Supreme Court of the United 

9 States to advance on the docket and to expedite to 

10 the greatest possible extent the disposition of any 

11 such action and appeal. 

12 SEC. 3. REPORT. 

13 Not later than the last day of the first fiscal year 

14 quarter that begins after the date of the enactment of this 

15 Act, and quarterly thereafter, the Comptroller General of 

16 the United States shall submit to the Committees on the 

17 Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate, 

18 a report on the costs of any civil action brought pursuant 

19 to this Act, including any attorney fees of any attorney 


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1 that has been hired to provide legal services in connection 

2 with a civil action brought pursuant to this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 12, 

2014. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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