I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3835 
To restore the Constitution’s checks and balances and protections against 
government abuses as envisioned by the Founding Fathers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 15, 2007 
Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, 
Foreign Affairs, and Select Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To restore the Constitution’s checks and balances and protec-
tions against government abuses as envisioned by the 
Founding Fathers. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Freedom 
Agenda Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
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(1) Unchecked power by any branch leads to 
oppressive transgressions on individual freedoms and 
ill-considered government policies. 
(2) The Founding Fathers enshrined checks 
and balances in the Constitution to protect against 
government abuses to derail ill-conceived domestic or 
foreign endeavors. 
(3) Checks and balances make the Nation safer 
by preventing abuses that would be exploited by Al 
Qaeda to boost terrorist recruitment, would deter 
foreign governments from cooperating in defeating 
international terrorism, and would make the Amer-
ican people reluctant to support aggressive counter- 
terrorism measures. 
(4) Checks and balances have withered since 9/ 
11 and an alarming concentration of power has been 
accumulated in the presidency based on hyper-in-
flated fears of international terrorism and a desire 
permanently to alter the equilibrium of power be-
tween the three branches of government. 
(5) The unprecedented constitutional powers 
claimed by the President since 9/11 subtracted na-
tional security and have been asserted for non-na-
tional security purposes. 
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(6) Experience demonstrates that global ter-
rorism can be thwarted, deterred, and punished 
through muscular application of law enforcement 
measures and prosecutions in Federal civilian courts 
in lieu of military commissions or military law. 
(7) Congressional oversight of the executive 
branch is necessary to prevent secret government, 
which undermines self-government and invites law-
lessness and maladministration. 
(8) The post-9/11 challenges to checks and bal-
ances are unique in the Nation’s history because the 
war on global terrorism has no discernable end. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The American Freedom Agenda Act 
of 2007 is intended to restore the Constitution’s checks 
and balances and protections against government abuses 
as envisioned by the Founding Fathers. 
SEC. 3. MILITARY COMMISSIONS; ENEMY COMBATANTS; HA-
BEAS CORPUS. 
(a) The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is hereby 
repealed. 
(b) The President is authorized to establish military 
commissions for the trial of war crimes only in places of 
active hostilities against the United States where an im-
mediate trial is necessary to preserve fresh evidence or to 
prevent local anarchy. 
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(c) The President is prohibited from detaining any 
individual indefinitely as an unlawful enemy combatant 
absent proof by substantial evidence that the individual 
has directly engaged in active hostilities against the 
United States, provided that no United States citizen shall 
be detained as an unlawful enemy combatant. 
(d) Any individual detained as an enemy combatant 
by the United States shall be entitled to petition for a writ 
of habeas corpus under section 2241 of title 28, United 
States Code. 
SEC. 4. TORTURE OR COERCED CONFESSIONS. 
No civilian or military tribunal of the United States 
shall admit as evidence statements extracted from the de-
fendant by torture or coercion. 
SEC. 5. INTELLIGENCE GATHERING. 
No Federal agency shall gather foreign intelligence 
in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 
Act (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). The President’s constitu-
tional power to gather foreign intelligence is subordinated 
to this provision. 
SEC. 6. PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS. 
The House of Representatives and Senate collectively 
shall enjoy standing to file a declaratory judgment action 
in an appropriate Federal district court to challenge the 
constitutionality of a presidential signing statement that 
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declares the President’s intent to disregard provisions of 
a bill he has signed into law because he believes they are 
unconstitutional. 
SEC. 7. KIDNAPPING, DETENTIONS, AND TORTURE ABROAD. 
No officer or agent of the United States shall kidnap, 
imprison, or torture any person abroad based solely on the 
President’s belief that the subject of the kidnapping, im-
prisonment, or torture is a criminal or enemy combatant; 
provided that kidnapping shall be permitted if undertaken 
with the intent of bringing the kidnapped person for pros-
ecution or interrogation to gather intelligence before a tri-
bunal that meets international standards of fairness and 
due process. A knowing violation of this section shall be 
punished as a felony punishable by a fine or imprisonment 
of up to 2 years. 
SEC. 8. JOURNALIST EXCEPTION TO ESPIONAGE ACT. 
Nothing in the Espionage Act of 1917 shall prohibit 
a journalist from publishing information received from the 
executive branch or Congress unless the publication would 
cause direct, immediate, and irreparable harm to the na-
tional security of the United States. 
SEC. 9. USE OF SECRET EVIDENCE TO MAKE FOREIGN TER-
RORIST DESIGNATIONS. 
Notwithstanding any other law, secret evidence shall 
not be used by the President or any other member of the 
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executive branch to designate an individual or organiza-
tion with a United States presence as a foreign terrorist 
or foreign terrorist organization for purposes of the crimi-
nal law or otherwise imposing criminal or civil sanctions. 
Æ 
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