II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1845 

To provide for limitations in certain communications between the Department 

of Justice and the White House Office relating to civil and criminal 

investigations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2007 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for limitations in certain communications between 

the Department of Justice and the White House Office 

relating to civil and criminal investigations, 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. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act— 

5 (1) the term ‘‘covered communication’’— 

6 (A) means any communication relating to 

7 an ongoing investigation conducted by the De8 partment of Justice in any civil or criminal 


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•S 1845 IS

1 matter (regardless of whether a civil action or 

2 criminal indictment or information has been 

3 filed); and 

4 (B) does not include any communication 

5 relating to policy, appointments, legislation, 

6 budgets, public relations, programmatic mat7 ters, intergovernmental relations, administrative 

8 or personnel matters, or requests for legal ad9 vice; 

10 (2) the term ‘‘covered Department of Justice 

11 officer’’ means— 

12 (A) the Attorney General; 

13 (B) the Deputy Attorney General; 

14 (C) the Associate Attorney General; and 

15 (D) any officer or employee designated 

16 under section 2(a); and 

17 (3) the term ‘‘covered White House officer’’ 

18 means— 

19 (A) the President; 

20 (B) the Vice President; 

21 (C) the Counsel to the President; 

22 (D) the Counselor to the President; and 

23 (E) any officer or employee designated 

24 under section 2(b). 


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1 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF OTHER COVERED OFFICERS. 

2 (a) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 

4 designate any officer or employee of the Department 

5 of Justice as a covered Department of Justice offi6 cer. 

7 (2) NONDELEGABLE AUTHORITY.—The Attor8 ney General may not delegate the authority under 

9 paragraph (1) to any officer or employee of the De10 partment of Justice. 

11 (b) WHITE HOUSE.—The President may designate 

12 any officer or employee of the White House Office as a 

13 covered White House officer. 

14 (c) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 3 

15 days after making a designation under this section, the 

16 Attorney General or the President, as the case may be, 

17 shall submit a notification of that designation, with an ex18 planation of the necessity of that designation, to the Com19 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee 

20 on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. 

21 SEC. 3. LIMITATIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS. 

22 Any covered communication between an officer or em23 ployee of the Department of Justice and an officer or em24 ployee of the White House Office may only be made be25 tween a covered Department of Justice officer and a cov26 ered White House officer. 


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1 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting 

3 any limitation on covered communications by the Depart4 ment of Justice or the White House Office that is more 

5 restrictive than the limitations under this Act. 

Æ 


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