I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4343 

To end the unconstitutional delegation of legislative power which was exclusively vested in the Senate and House of Representatives by article 

I, section 1 of the United States Constitution, and to direct the Comptroller General of the United States to issue a report to Congress detailing the extent of the problem of unconstitutional delegation to the end 

that such delegations can be phased out, thereby restoring the constitutional principle of separation of powers set forth in the first sections 

of the United States Constitution. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2014 

Mr. STOCKMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To end the unconstitutional delegation of legislative power 

which was exclusively vested in the Senate and House 

of Representatives by article I, section 1 of the United 

States Constitution, and to direct the Comptroller General of the United States to issue a report to Congress 

detailing the extent of the problem of unconstitutional 

delegation to the end that such delegations can be phased 

out, thereby restoring the constitutional principle of separation of powers set forth in the first sections of the 

United States Constitution. 


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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 ‘‘Write the Laws Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 (a) Article I, section 1 of the United States Constitu7 tion vests the legislative powers enumerated therein in the 

8 United States Congress, consisting of a Senate and a 

9 House of Representatives, subject only to the veto power 

10 of the President as provided in article I, section 7, clause 

11 2. 

12 (b) Article II, section 1 of the United States Con13 stitution vests the executive power of the United States 

14 in a President of the United States, except as enumerated 

15 in article II, section 2. 

16 (c) Article III, section 1 of the United States Con17 stitution vests the judicial power of the United States in 

18 ‘‘one supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the 

19 Congress may from time to time ordain and establish,’’ 

20 subject only to the jurisdictional limitations set forth in 

21 article III, section 2. 

22 (d) ‘‘In the main, [the United States Constitution] 

23 has blocked out with singular precision, and in bold lines, 

24 in its three primary Articles, the allotment of power to 

25 the executive, the legislative, and judicial departments of 


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1 the government [and] the powers confided by the Con2 stitution to one of these departments cannot be exercised 

3 by another.’’ Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 191 

4 (1881). 

5 (e) ‘‘It is . . . essential to the successful working of 

6 this system, that the persons entrusted with power in any 

7 of these branches shall not be permitted to encroach upon 

8 the powers confided to others, but that each shall by the 

9 law of its creation be limited to the exercise of the powers 

10 of its own department and no other.’’ Kilbourn v. Thomp11 son, 103 U.S. 168, 191 (1881). 

12 (f) ‘‘The increase in the number of States, in their 

13 population and wealth, and in the amount of power . . . 

14 [has] present[ed] powerful and growing temptations to 

15 those to whom that exercise is intrusted, to overstep the 

16 just boundaries of their own department, and enter upon 

17 the domain of one of the others, or to assume powers not 

18 intrusted to either of them.’’ Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 

19 U.S. 168, 191–192 (1881). 

20 (g) Succumbing to these ‘‘powerful and growing’’ 

21 temptations, and beginning in the late nineteenth century 

22 with the Interstate Commerce Commission and continuing 

23 to the present time, Congress has unconstitutionally cre24 ated numerous administrative agencies with blended pow25 ers, namely, (i) the exercise of legislative power vested by 


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1 the Constitution in Congress, (ii) the exercise of executive 

2 power vested by the Constitution in the President and (iii) 

3 the exercise of judicial power vested by the Constitution 

4 in the Supreme Court and lower Federal courts. 

5 (h) By delegating legislative, executive and judicial 

6 power to the various administrative agencies, Congress 

7 has departed from the separation of powers structure of 

8 the United States Constitution, and ignored the warning 

9 of the framers of that instrument that ‘‘[T]he accumula10 tion of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in 

11 the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and 

12 whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly 

13 be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.’’ James 

14 Madison, The Federalist No. 47. 

15 (i) Further, by delegating legislative, executive, and 

16 judicial powers to various administrative agencies, Con17 gress has unconstitutionally established a Star Chamber18 like system of rules promulgated, executed and adju19 dicated by administrative agencies that are functionally a 

20 part of the executive branch of government in violation 

21 of the due process guarantee of the Fifth Amendment that 

22 secures a system of rules promulgated by Congress, exe23 cuted by the President, and adjudicated by the courts 

24 independent from the legislative and executive branches 

25 of government. 


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1 (j) By the very nature of legislative power, and by 

2 the express terms of article I, section 1 of the United 

3 States Constitution, Congress may not delegate any legis4 lative power to any other branch of government or other 

5 entity, including any administrative agency. As Chief Jus6 tice John Marshall stated: ‘‘It will not be contended that 

7 congress can delegate to the courts, or to any other tribu8 nals, powers which are strictly and exclusively legislative.’’ 

9 Wayman v. Southard, 10 Wheat. 23 U.S. 1, 41 (1825). 

10 (k) As Chief Justice Melville Fuller explained, a 

11 ‘‘criminal offense’’ created or clarified by an Executive 

12 Branch agency is not valid unless the offense ‘‘is fully and 

13 completely defined by the act’’ of Congress. In re Kollock, 

14 165 U.S. 526 (1897). 

15 (l) By vesting legislative power in the Congress, the 

16 Constitution requires the Senate and the House of Rep17 resentatives to enact statutes containing general rules to 

18 be executed by the President, as provided in article II, sec19 tion 1 of the Constitution of the United States, and to 

20 be adjudicated in a case or controversy by such inferior 

21 courts as Congress may from time to time establish, or 

22 in the Supreme Court, as provided in article III, sections 

23 1 and 2. 

24 (m) By abdicating its constitutional legislative re25 sponsibility to write the laws whereby the people are govVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:22 Apr 02, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4343.IH H4343

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1 erned, and having unconstitutionally delegated that power 

2 to unelected bureaucrats, Congress has undermined the 

3 constitutional protections of (i) the checks and balances 

4 of a bicameral legislative body and (ii) of a presidential 

5 veto. 

6 (n) As a direct consequence of Congress having abdi7 cated its responsibility to properly exercise the legislative 

8 power vested by the Constitution, Congress has: (i) im9 posed onerous and unreasonable burdens upon the Amer10 ican people; and (ii) violated the constitutional principle 

11 of the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial 

12 processes and functions. 

13 (o) As Chief Justice Roberts observed, ‘‘the danger 

14 posed by the growing power of the administrative state 

15 cannot be dismissed,’’ as there are now ‘‘hundreds of fed16 eral agencies poking into every nook and cranny of daily 

17 life.’’ City of Arlington v. FCC. 569 U.S.l(2013) (Rob18 erts, C.J., dissenting). 

19 SEC. 3. RESTORING THE SEPARATION OF POWERS. 

20 Title 1 of the United States Code, shall be amended 

21 by inserting at the end of chapter 2 a new chapter, 2B 

22 entitled ‘‘SEPARATION OF POWERS’’, including 

23 section 101, as follows: 


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1 ‘‘§ 101. Nondelegation of legislative power 

2 ‘‘(a) Effective 90 calendar days after the enactment 

3 of this bill into law no bills passed by Congress shall con4 tain any ‘delegation of legislative powers’ whatsoever, 

5 whether to (a) any component within the Legislative 

6 Branch of government, (b) the President of the United 

7 States or any other member of the Executive Branch of 

8 government, (c) the Judicial Branch of government, (d) 

9 any federal administrative agency, (e) any quasi-public 

10 agency, (f) any state or instrumentality thereof, or (g) any 

11 other organization or individual. 

12 ‘‘(b)(1) A prohibited ‘delegation of legislative powers’ 

13 in this section shall include: (a) the creation or clarifica14 tion of any criminal or civil offense; and (b) the creation 

15 or clarification of any non-criminal regulation, prohibition 

16 or limitation applicable to the public, or some subset there17 of, that is not fully and completely defined by Congress, 

18 except that the Executive Branch of government may be 

19 delegated authority to make factual findings that will de20 termine the date upon which such statute is implemented, 

21 suspended, or revived. 

22 ‘‘(2) A prohibited ‘delegation of legislative powers’ in 

23 this section shall not include the issuance of any presi24 dential proclamation, or the issuance by any rule or regu25 lation governing the internal operation of any government 


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1 agency, or conditions made upon grants or contracts 

2 issued by any government agency. 

3 ‘‘(c) Effective 90 calendar days after the enactment 

4 of this bill into law, no new presidential directive, adju5 dicative decision, rule, or regulation, or change to an exist6 ing presidential directive, adjudicative decision, rule, or 

7 regulation governing, limiting, imposing a penalty on, or 

8 otherwise regulating any activity of any person or entity, 

9 other than an officer or employee of the United States 

10 government, shall be promulgated or put into effect, un11 less said directive, decision, rule or regulation is author12 ized by a bill written in compliance with this section, and 

13 duly enacted according to the process of Article I, Section 

14 7 of the United States Constitution. 

15 ‘‘(d) Within six months after the effective date of this 

16 Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, shall 

17 report to Congress identifying all statutes enacted prior 

18 to the effective date of this statute which contain any ‘del19 egation of legislative powers’ prohibited in this section, to 

20 the end that Congress may take action to repeal or amend 

21 any such statutes.’’. 

22 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT CLAUSE. 

23 Title 1 of the United States Code shall be further 

24 amended by adding to new said chapter 2B, as follows: 


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1 ‘‘§ 102. Enforcement clause 

2 ‘‘(a) Effective 90 days after the enactment of this bill, 

3 no bill shall become law, nor enforced or applied as law, 

4 without Congress having complied fully with the require5 ments of Section 101(A) and (B) of Chapter 2B of Title 

6 1 of the United States Code, and any persons against 

7 whom such a law is enforced or applied may invoke such 

8 noncompliance as a complete defense to any legal, equi9 table, or regulatory action, civil or criminal, brought 

10 against him under said law, or the color thereof. 

11 ‘‘(b) Any person aggrieved by any action of any exec12 utive officer or administration agency pursuant to any 

13 statute that does not comply with the provisions of this 

14 Act shall have a cause of action under Sections 2201 and 

15 2202, Title 28, United States Code, and Rules 57 and 

16 65, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, against the United 

17 States to seek appropriate relief, including an injunction 

18 against enforcement of any law, the contents of which did 

19 not conform to the requirements of this Act. 

20 ‘‘(c) In any judicial action brought pursuant to sub21 section (B) of this section, the standard of review shall 

22 be de novo.’’. 

23 SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE. 

24 If any provision of this Act, or the application there25 of, to any person or circumstance is held invalid for any 

26 reason in any court of competent jurisdiction, such invaVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:22 Apr 02, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4343.IH H4343

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1 lidity does not affect other provisions or other applications 

2 of this Act which can be given effect without the invalid 

3 provision or application, and for this purpose the provi4 sions of this Act are declared severable. 

Æ 


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