I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 277 

To provide an alternate procedure for the prosecution of certain criminal 

contempts referred for prosecution by the House of Representatives, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2009 

Mr. MILLER of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, and Ms. LEE of 

California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide an alternate procedure for the prosecution of 

certain criminal contempts referred for prosecution by 

the House of Representatives, 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 Criminal Con5 tempt of Congress Procedures Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ALTERNATE PROCEDURE. 

7 (a) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—If the House of Rep8 resentatives finds a current or former officer or employee 

9 of the Executive branch has violated section 102 of the 


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1 Revised Statutes of the United States (2 U.S.C. 192), the 

2 procedures of this Act apply. 

3 (b) CERTIFICATION BY SPEAKER.—Upon the finding 

4 by the House of Representatives of a violation to which 

5 this Act applies, the Speaker shall certify that finding to 

6 the appropriate United States attorney, whose duty it 

7 shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its 

8 action. 

9 (c) CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO APPOINTMENT OF

10 SPECIAL COUNSEL.—If— 

11 (1) the Attorney General or the United States 

12 attorney to whom the finding was certified informs 

13 the court or the House that the Department of Jus14 tice will not prosecute the case; or 

15 (2) by the end of the 30th day after the date 

16 of receipt of a certification made under subsection 

17 (b) a grand jury has not returned an indictment 

18 based on the violation alleged in the certification; 

19 the Chief Judge of the United States district court for 

20 the district to whose United States Attorney the certifi21 cation was made (hereinafter in this Act referred to as 

22 the ‘‘Chief Judge’’) shall appoint a special counsel under 

23 section 3. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General 

24 to inform that court and the House if a grand jury does 

25 not return an indictment by the end of the 30-day period. 


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1 The Speaker of the House, or any interested congressional 

2 party, may file with the Chief Judge a suggestion that 

3 circumstances giving rise to a duty to appoint a special 

4 counsel have occurred after the 30-day period ends with5 out the return of an indictment. 

6 SEC. 3. APPOINTMENT, QUALIFICATIONS, AND PROSECU7 TORIAL JURISDICTION OF SPECIAL COUN8 SEL, AND ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS RELAT9 ING TO THE SPECIAL COUNSEL. 

10 (a) APPOINTMENT, QUALIFICATIONS, AND PROSECU11 TORIAL JURISDICTION OF SPECIAL COUNSEL.— 

12 (1) APPOINTMENT AND QUALIFICATIONS.—The 

13 Chief Judge shall appoint the special counsel, who 

14 must be an attorney in good standing with substan15 tial prosecutorial experience who has not served in 

16 any capacity in the administration of the President 

17 who is or was in office when the Speaker of the 

18 House certified the finding of a violation. 

19 (2) PROSECUTORIAL JURISDICTION.—The Chief 

20 Judge shall define the special counsel’s prosecutorial 

21 jurisdiction as comprising the investigation and 

22 prosecution of the alleged violation, any conspiracy 

23 to commit the alleged violation, and any perjury, 

24 false statement, or obstruction of justice occurring 

25 in relation to such investigation and prosecution. 


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1 (b) AUTHORITY OF SPECIAL COUNSEL WITH RE2 SPECT TO MATTERS WITHIN PROSECUTORIAL JURISDIC3 TION.—With respect to all matters in that special coun4 sel’s prosecutorial jurisdiction, a special counsel appointed 

5 under this Act shall have full power and independent au6 thority to exercise all prosecutorial functions and powers, 

7 and any other functions and powers normally ancillary 

8 thereto, of the Department of Justice, the Attorney Gen9 eral, and any other officer or employee of the Department 

10 of Justice, except that the Attorney General shall exercise 

11 direction or control as to those matters that specifically 

12 require the Attorney General’s personal action under sec13 tion 2516 of title 18, United States Code. 

14 (c) COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES OF THE DEPART15 MENT OF JUSTICE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—A special counsel shall, ex17 cept to the extent that to do so would be incon18 sistent with the purposes of this Act, comply with 

19 the written or other established policies of the De20 partment of Justice respecting enforcement of the 

21 criminal laws. 

22 (2) NATIONAL SECURITY.—A special counsel 

23 shall comply with guidelines and procedures used by 

24 the Department in the handling and use of classified 

25 material. 


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1 (d) SALARY.—The special counsel shall receive a sal2 ary equivalent to the salary of the United States Attorney 

3 for the District of Columbia. 

4 (e) STAFF.—The special counsel may appoint and fix 

5 the salaries of such staff, not to exceed 12 in number, 

6 as the special counsel deems necessary to carry out the 

7 functions of the special counsel under this Act. However, 

8 no salary of a member of such staff may exceed the salary 

9 of the special counsel. 

10 (f) EXPENSES.—The Department of Justice shall pay 

11 all costs relating to the establishment and operation of any 

12 office of special counsel. The Attorney General shall sub13 mit to the Congress, not later than 30 days after the end 

14 of each fiscal year, a report on amounts paid during that 

15 fiscal year for expenses of investigations and prosecutions 

16 the special counsel. 

17 (g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Each special counsel 

18 shall report to Congress annually on the special counsel’s 

19 activities under this Act. The report shall include a de20 scription of the progress of any investigation or prosecu21 tion conducted by the special counsel and provide informa22 tion justifying the costs of the activities reported on. 

23 SEC. 4. REMOVAL OF SPECIAL COUNSEL. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—A special counsel may be removed 

25 from office, other than by impeachment and conviction, 


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1 only by the personal action of the Attorney General, and 

2 only for good cause, physical or mental disability, or any 

3 other condition that substantially impairs the performance 

4 of that special counsel’s duties. 

5 (b) REPORT UPON REMOVAL.—If a special counsel 

6 is removed from office, the Attorney General shall prompt7 ly submit to the Chief Judge and to Congress a report 

8 specifying the facts found and the ultimate grounds for 

9 the removal. 

10 (c) JUDICIAL REVIEW OF REMOVAL.—A special 

11 counsel removed from office may obtain judicial review of 

12 the removal in a civil action. The Chief Judge may not 

13 hear or determine any such civil action or any appeal of 

14 a decision in any such civil action. The special counsel may 

15 be reinstated or granted other appropriate relief by order 

16 of the court. 

17 (d) APPOINTMENT OF REPLACEMENT.—Upon re18 moval of a special counsel, the Chief Judge shall appoint 

19 a similarly qualified individual to continue the functions 

20 of the special counsel. 

21 SEC. 5. TERMINATION OF SPECIAL COUNSEL’S AUTHORITY. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The authority of the special coun23 sel shall cease two years after the date of the special coun24 sel’s appointment, but the Chief Judge may extend that 

25 authority for an additional period not to exceed one year, 


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1 if the Chief Judge finds good cause to do so. Good cause 

2 to do so includes that the investigation or prosecution un3 dertaken by the special counsel has been delayed by dila4 tory tactics by persons who could provide evidence that 

5 would significantly assist the investigation or prosecution, 

6 and also includes the need to allow the special counsel to 

7 participate in any appellate proceedings related to pros8 ecutions engaged in by the special counsel. 

9 (b) TERMINATION BY COURT.—The Chief Judge, ei10 ther on the judge’s own motion or upon the request of 

11 the Attorney General, may terminate an office of special 

12 counsel at any time, on the ground that the investigation 

13 of all matters within the prosecutorial jurisdiction of such 

14 special counsel, and any resulting prosecutions, have been 

15 completed or so substantially completed that it would be 

16 appropriate for the Department of Justice to complete 

17 such investigations and prosecutions. 

18 SEC. 6. INCREASE IN PENALTY FOR CONTEMPT OF CON19 GRESS. 

20 Section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United 

21 States (2 U.S.C. 194) is amended by striking ‘‘deemed’’ 

22 and all that follows through ‘‘twelve months’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not 

24 more than 2 years, or both’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 This Act takes effect on January 20, 2009. 

Æ 


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