Special Counsel Independence Protection Act

Bill: 115-s-1735
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC]
Introduced: 2017-08-03
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Congressional oversight

Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation

Department of Justice

Federal officials

Government ethics and transparency, public corruption

Judicial review and appeals

Supreme Court
Latest action: action_date: 2017-09-26
text: Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-08-03
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Special Counsel Independence Protection Act</b></p> <p>This bill sets forth requirements and limitations with respect to the removal from office of a special counsel appointed by the Attorney General, or of another official appointed by the Attorney General who exercises a similar degree of independence from the Department of Justice (DOJ) chain of command. </p> <p>Specifically, a special counsel or other appointed individual may be removed only if: (1) the Attorney General files an action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and files a contemporaneous notice of the action with Congress; and (2) the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issues an order finding misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including violation of DOJ policies.</p>

tv_txt: II 115th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1735 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES August 3, 2017 Mr. Graham (for himself, Mr. Booker , Mr. Whitehouse , and Mr. Blumenthal ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To limit the removal of a special counsel, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Special Counsel Independence Protection Act . 2. Limitation on removal of special counsel (a) In general A special counsel appointed by the Attorney General, or any other official appointed by the Attorney General who exercises a similar degree of independence from the normal Department of Justice chain of command, may only be removed if the Attorney General files an action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and files a contemporaneous notice of the action with the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. (b) Requirement Any action filed under subsection (a) shall be heard and determined by a court of 3 judges in accordance with the provisions of section 2284 of title 28, United States Code, and any appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court. (c) Removal for cause A special counsel or other appointed official described in subsection (a) may be removed only after the court has issued an order finding misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including violation of policies of the Department of Justice.