Sec. 403. Enforcement of congressional subpoenas
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Chapter 85 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1365 the following: The Senate, the House of Representatives, or a committee or subcommittee thereof, may bring a civil action against the recipient of a subpoena issued by a congressional committee or subcommittee to enforce compliance with the subpoena. In any civil action described in subsection (a), the following rules shall apply: The action may be filed in a United States district court of competent jurisdiction.
Notwithstanding section 1657(a), it shall be the duty of every court of the United States to expedite to the greatest possible extent the disposition of any such action and appeal. Upon a showing by the plaintiff of undue delay, other irreparable harm, or good cause, a court to which an appeal of the action may be taken shall issue any necessary and appropriate writs and orders to ensure compliance with this paragraph. If a three-judge court is expressly requested by the plaintiff in the initial pleading, the action shall be heard by a three-judge court convened pursuant to section 2284, and shall be reviewable only by appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Such appeal shall be taken by the filing of a notice of appeal within 10 days, and the filing of a jurisdictional statement within 30 days, of the entry of the final decision. The initial pleading shall be accompanied by certification that the party bringing the action has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the recipient of the subpoena to secure compliance with the subpoena without court action. The court may impose monetary penalties directly against each head of a Government agency and the head of each component thereof held to have knowingly failed to comply with any part of a congressional subpoena, unless— the President instructed the official not to comply; and the President, or the head of the agency or component thereof, submits to the court a letter confirming such instruction and the basis for such instruction.
No appropriated funds, funds provided from any accounts in the Treasury, funds derived from the collection of fees, or other Government funds shall be used to pay any monetary penalty imposed by the court pursuant to this paragraph. In addition to any other penalties or sanctions, the court shall require that any defendant, other than a Government agency, held to have willfully failed to comply with any part of a congressional subpoena, pay a penalty in an amount equal to that party’s legal fees, including attorney’s fees, litigation expenses, and other costs.
If such defendant is an officer or employee of a Government agency, such legal fees may be paid from funds appropriated to pay the salary of the defendant. Any ground for noncompliance asserted by the recipient of a congressional subpoena shall be deemed to have been waived as to any particular information withheld from production if the court finds that the recipient failed in a timely manner to comply with the applicable requirements of section 105(b) of the Revised Statutes of the United States with respect to such information.
The Supreme Court of the United States and the Judicial Conference of the United States shall prescribe rules of procedure to ensure the expeditious treatment of actions described in subsection (a). Such rules shall be prescribed and submitted to the Congress pursuant to sections 2072, 2073, and 2074. This shall include procedures for expeditiously considering any assertion of constitutional or Federal statutory privilege made in connection with testimony by any recipient of a subpoena from a congressional committee or subcommittee.
The Supreme Court shall transmit such rules to Congress within 6 months after the effective date of this section and then pursuant to section 2074 thereafter. For purposes of this section, the term Government agency means any office or entity described in sections 105 and 106 of title 3, an Executive department listed in section 101 of title 5, an independent establishment, commission, board, bureau, division, or office in the executive branch, or other agency or instrumentality of the Federal Government, including wholly or partly owned Government corporations. .
The table of sections for chapter 85 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 1365 the following: 1365a. Congressional actions against subpoena recipients. .