I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3362 
To establish guidelines for the assertion of Executive privilege, to enhance 
the authority of Congress to enforce subpoenas and punish for contempt, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2009 
Mr. MILLER of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. LINDA T. 
SA´NCHEZ of California, and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 
to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish guidelines for the assertion of Executive privi-
lege, to enhance the authority of Congress to enforce 
subpoenas and punish for contempt, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Checks and Balances Restoration and Revitalization 
Act’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—ASSERTIONS OF EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE 
Sec. 101. Findings. 
Sec. 102. Procedure governing claims of Executive privilege before Congress. 
Sec. 103. Executive policy. 
Sec. 104. Executive privilege defined. 
TITLE II—CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS PROCEDURES AND 
ENFORCEMENT 
Sec. 201. Availability of civil action to enforce House of Representatives sub-
poenas. 
Sec. 202. Alternate procedures for enforcement of criminal contempt of Con-
gress. 
Sec. 203. Increase in penalty for contempt of Congress. 
Sec. 204. Authority of United States Capitol Police to enforce citations. 
Sec. 205. Collection of penalties imposed by the House of Representatives on 
persons cited for contempt of House. 
TITLE III—PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS 
Sec. 301. Findings. 
Sec. 302. Treatment of certain Presidential signing statements as reports es-
tablishing policy to refrain from enforcing law for purposes of 
notifying counsel for Congress. 
Sec. 303. Actions for declaratory or injunctive relief to compel enforcement. 
Sec. 304. Qualifying Presidential signing statement defined. 
Sec. 305. Effective date. 
TITLE IV—PROCEDURES APPLICABLE TO LEGAL OPINIONS OF 
OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL 
Sec. 401. Findings. 
Sec. 402. Reporting of legal opinions. 
Sec. 403. Signature requirements for legal opinions of Office of Legal Counsel. 
TITLE V—SEVERABILITY 
Sec. 501. Severability. 
TITLE I—ASSERTIONS OF 
EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE 
SEC. 101. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Assertions of Executive privilege provide the 
Executive branch an opportunity to perpetuate ex-
cessive executive secrecy and to deny Congress ac-
cess to the information it requires to perform its 
Constitutional responsibilities. 
(2) Excessive secrecy tends to undermine self- 
government and invite lawlessness and maladmin-
istration. 
(3) A shared and uniform understanding of 
when and how the President may assert Executive 
privilege, and when and how this privilege may be 
overcome by Congress, facilitates information shar-
ing among the coordinate branches of the Govern-
ment. 
(4) A judicial forum is available to resolve dis-
putes over particular claims of Executive privilege 
when the political branches are unable to do so. 
SEC. 102. PROCEDURE GOVERNING CLAIMS OF EXECUTIVE 
PRIVILEGE BEFORE CONGRESS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any claim of Executive privilege 
before either House of Congress or any body acting under 
the authority of either House must be— 
(1) made by the express authority of the Presi-
dent; and 
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(2) accompanied by a statement, approved by 
the President, of the factual and legal basis for that 
claim. 
(b) METHOD OF SHOWING EXPRESS AUTHORITY.— 
In the case of such a claim made other than by the incum-
bent President in person, the express authority of the 
President for the claim must be in writing and signed by 
the incumbent President. 
(c) REQUIREMENT OF APPEARANCE.—Noting that 
each person summoned to appear under the authority of 
either House of Congress must appear in person in order 
to assert any privilege or other excuse not to testify, Con-
gress also requires that a person (other than the President 
or a former President) who is or was an Executive branch 
official make any assertion of Executive privilege by such 
an appearance. 
(d) PROCEDURES FOR ASSERTION OF PRIVILEGE IN 
PERSON.— 
(1) PRESENTATION OF AUTHORITY TO ASSERT 
PRIVILEGE.—When a person appears in person to 
assert Executive privilege as required under sub-
section (c), the person shall present a written state-
ment that satisfies the requirements of subsection 
(b) and authorizes the person to assert the privilege, 
except that if the person reasonably believes that a 
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question would elicit information that is subject to 
Executive privilege, but is not in possession of such 
a written statement, the witness may assert a provi-
sional claim of Executive privilege in lieu of answer-
ing the question. 
(2) SUBSEQUENT RESPONSE AFTER ASSERTION 
OF
PROVISIONAL
CLAIM.—Not later than 10 cal-
endar days after asserting a provisional claim of Ex-
ecutive privilege under paragraph (1) in response to 
a question, the person shall submit to the House of 
Congress before which the person appeared— 
(A) a written statement that satisfies the 
requirements of subsection (b) with respect to 
the claim asserted; or 
(B) a written answer to the question. 
(e) REQUIREMENT OF IDENTIFICATION OF MATE-
RIALS WITHHELD ON THE GROUND OF PRIVILEGE.—Any 
person withholding subpoenaed documents, written com-
munications, or tangible items from either House of Con-
gress on a claim of Executive privilege shall provide to 
the requesting body an index of the withheld documents, 
communications, and items and a statement describing the 
nature of each such document, communication, and item 
in a manner that, without revealing the information 
claimed as privileged, will enable the requesting body to 
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