Independent Counsel Reform Act of 2003
Latest action · Oct 3, 2003 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S12453-12458)
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedOct 3, 2003
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Independent Counsel Reform Act of 2003 - Rewrites the Independent Counsel (IC) statute to: (1) limit application of the statute to the President, Vice President, Level I positions of the Executive Schedule (Cabinet members, the Commissioner of Social Security, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board), and the President's Chief of Staff; (2) expand to 120 days the period of time in which the Attorney General must conduct a preliminary investigation; (3) authorize the Attorney General to convene grand juries and issue subpoenas in a preliminary investigation; (4) heighten the evidentiary threshold for seeking appointment of an IC from "reasonable" to "substantial" grounds; (5) require the IC to serve on a full-time basis; (6) limit the scope of inquiry to matters "directly" related to the IC's prosecutorial jurisdiction; (7) delete provisions authorizing expansion of the IC's prosecutorial jurisdiction; (8) require the IC to submit a budget for each year to the Attorney General and the General Accounting Office; (9) require the courts of the United States to expedite consideration and review of matters relating to an IC's investigation and prosecution; (10) delete the requirement directing an IC to advise the House of Representatives of any information that may support impeachment; and (11) terminate an IC's term at the end of two years after appointment, with the possibility of an extension for good cause or to compensate for dilatory tactics.
Amends the Federal judicial code to: (1) extend to three years the period of service of judges assigned to the division of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that appoints ICs; and (2) require the Chief Justice to assign three judges for such division by a lottery of all circuit court judges.
Cosponsors 1
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Oct 3, 2003.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MI | Carl Levin | Original | Oct 3, 2003 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Oct 3, 2003Introduced in Senate
- Oct 3, 2003Read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S12453-12458)
- Oct 3, 2003Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S12452-12453)
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement.
- Appellate courts
- Conflict of interests
- Congressional investigations
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Criminal investigation
- Department of Justice
- Economics and Public Finance
- Evidence (Law)
- Federal employees
- Federal officials
- Frivolous lawsuits
- Government ethics
- Government Operations and Politics
- Grand jury
- Impeachments
- Judges
- Judicial tenure
- Law
- Lawyers
- Legal ethics
- Misconduct in office
- Obstruction of justice
- Perjury
- Pleas (Criminal procedure)
- Prosecution
- Self-incrimination
- Special prosecutors
- Subpoena
- Term limits
- Transfer of employees
- Vice Presidents
- Witnesses
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.