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EMOL-015 — Executive Self-Litigation and Settlement Conflict Act

A BILL

To require automatic judicial screening and dismissal of constitutionally non-adverse executive self-litigation; to prevent covered executive officials from settling with or receiving payment or other personal benefit from executive agencies, officers, employees, funds, accounts, or payment authorities subject to their supervision while in office; to prohibit prospective or categorical immunity from Federal tax audits and investigations; to preserve valid claims after service; and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the "Executive Self-Litigation and Settlement Conflict Act".

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

The purposes of this Act are to—

  1. prevent personal financial or legal self-dealing by covered executive officials during service;
  2. preserve genuine claims without allowing conflicted settlement, compromise, payment, or litigation control while the conflict exists;
  3. protect the Judgment Fund, agency funds, settlement authority, and payment authority from use as substitutes for express congressional authorization of personal or politically defined compensation programs;
  4. require an automatic, sua sponte judicial determination of genuine adverseness before merits adjudication, voluntary dismissal, settlement, or payment;
  5. require dismissal without prejudice when genuine Article III adversity is absent while preserving any still-timely underlying claim through statutory tolling;
  6. preserve genuine adverseness in litigation involving the United States;
  7. prohibit any executive-branch settlement, release, assurance, order, or other instrument from conferring prospective or categorical immunity from Federal tax administration on any taxpayer;
  8. preserve lawful finality for identified tax liabilities, taxable periods, and matters resolved under otherwise applicable law;
  9. make clear that the President is covered by this Act and is not excluded by title, office, or implication; and
  10. make clear that the Vice President is covered by this Act and is not excluded by the absence of ordinary agency-head supervision.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(a) Covered executive official.

The term covered executive official means:

  1. the President;
  2. the Vice President;
  3. the head of an executive department, military department, executive agency, or independent establishment;
  4. an acting official performing the functions and duties of an office described in paragraph (3);
  5. the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Solicitor General, Assistant Attorney General, United States Attorney, or other senior Department of Justice official with authority over litigation, settlement, compromise, payment, defense, or representation involving the United States; and
  6. any officer or employee designated by statute, regulation, or court order as exercising supervisory authority materially comparable to an official described in paragraphs (1) through (5).

The President and Vice President are covered executive officials under this Act. No provision of this Act shall be construed to exclude the President or Vice President unless a later Act of Congress expressly names the President or Vice President and expressly states that the identified office is excluded.

(b) Covered civil action.

The term covered civil action means a civil action, administrative claim, demand for payment, request for settlement, request for compromise, claim for offset, or other proceeding seeking personal legal, equitable, monetary, declaratory, or settlement relief, if:

  1. the claimant is a covered executive official acting in a personal capacity;
  2. the defendant, respondent, payer, settling entity, or materially affected entity is the United States, an executive agency, an executive office, a component thereof, an officer or employee subject to the covered executive official's supervision, or a fund, account, appropriation, or payment authority administered by an entity subject to the covered executive official's supervision; and
  3. the relief sought would confer a material and particularized personal financial or legal benefit on the covered executive official or an affiliated person or entity.

For the President, paragraph (2) is satisfied if the defendant, respondent, payer, settling entity, materially affected entity, fund, account, appropriation, or payment authority is within the executive branch or subject to executive-branch litigation, settlement, payment, or defense authority. For the Vice President, paragraph (2) is satisfied only if the Vice President possesses formal authority over, has been delegated a function concerning, or has personally participated in or directed the defense, settlement, payment, records, privilege, classification, or litigation decision at issue. Political alignment, access to White House personnel, or the title of Vice President, standing alone, does not establish coverage.

A civil action, administrative claim, demand, request, or proceeding is not excluded from the definition of covered civil action merely because it is styled as an official-capacity action if its practical effect is to confer a material and particularized personal financial, legal, reimbursement, indemnification, settlement, or affiliated-entity benefit on the covered executive official. Reputational, political, precedential, or litigation-strategy effects incidental to bona fide official-capacity litigation do not establish coverage.

(c) Personal capacity.

The term personal capacity means a capacity other than an official capacity exercised solely on behalf of the United States or the office held by the covered executive official.

(d) Affiliated person or entity.

The term affiliated person or entity means a spouse, dependent, immediate family member, business entity, trust, campaign committee, legal-defense fund, nonprofit organization, political organization, or other person or entity that is owned or controlled by the covered executive official or through which the official would receive a material and particularized financial, legal, reimbursement, indemnification, settlement, or comparable personal benefit. Ideological affinity, political support, membership, or an incidental reputational effect alone does not establish affiliation.

(e) Public funds.

The term public funds means appropriated funds, agency funds, settlement funds, representational funds, reimbursement authority, indemnification authority, offset authority, compromise authority, insurance purchased or funded by the United States or an executive agency, the Judgment Fund established under section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, or any other money provided by the United States or an executive agency.

(f) Potentially covered civil action.

The term potentially covered civil action means a civil action in which facts alleged in the pleadings, disclosed by a party, or otherwise properly before the court provide a reasonable basis to believe that the action may satisfy the definition of a covered civil action.

SEC. 4. AUTOMATIC ADVERSENESS SCREENING AND CONTROLLED MAINTENANCE.

(a) Automatic sua sponte screening.

When a potentially covered civil action is filed in a federal court, or when an action becomes potentially covered while pending, the court shall, sua sponte and as its first substantive matter:

  1. determine whether the action is a covered civil action; and
  2. determine whether the action presents genuinely adverse legal interests sufficient to establish a case or controversy under article III of the Constitution.

The duty imposed by this subsection does not depend on a motion, objection, notice of appearance, answer, motion for summary judgment, contested litigation position, or request by the United States or any other party. The court may examine jurisdictional facts beyond the caption and pleadings and may require verified disclosures, limited briefing, testimony, documents, or appointment of an amicus curiae necessary to complete the screening.

(b) Automatic interim stay; Rule 41 ineffective pending screening.

From the filing of a potentially covered civil action until entry of the written screening order required by subsection (d):

  1. no party may settle, compromise, confess liability, stipulate to liability, consent to judgment, obtain or authorize payment, create or implement a release or immunity, or otherwise resolve the action or any part of it for the personal or affiliated benefit of the covered executive official;
  2. notwithstanding Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a notice or stipulation of dismissal, whether with or without prejudice, is ineffective unless and until the court completes the screening required by this section and enters an order giving effect to the dismissal; and
  3. no agreement, dismissal notice, stipulation, payment authorization, release, or other act taken during the interim stay may moot, terminate, or divest the court of authority to complete the screening.

The interim stay is a self-executing statutory prohibition. Before finding article III jurisdiction, the court may determine its jurisdiction, require the screening submissions, preserve its own records and proceedings, address privilege or protected-information handling, dismiss under subsection (d), and exercise otherwise lawful collateral authority. It may not adjudicate the merits or issue coercive merits relief merely because this Act applies.

(c) Screening submissions and timing.

The claimant shall file with the complaint, or not later than 7 days after facts establishing potential coverage become known, a statement identifying:

  1. the office creating potential coverage;
  2. the relationship between the claimant and each defendant, respondent, settling entity, payer, fund, account, appropriation, or payment authority;
  3. any authority of the claimant to appoint, remove, supervise, direct, influence, or countermand a person responsible for defense, settlement, payment, agency cooperation, records, privilege, classification, or litigation strategy; and
  4. any existing or proposed settlement, compromise, dismissal, release, immunity, payment, offset, indemnification, reimbursement, audit restriction, compensation fund, or materially equivalent benefit.

The Attorney General and the head of each affected agency shall respond not later than 7 days after service or actual notice. A failure to appear or respond does not delay screening and may be considered with the other jurisdictional facts. The court shall complete screening as soon as practicable and before merits adjudication, settlement approval, voluntary dismissal, or payment authorization.

(d) Adverseness determination and mandatory dismissal.

In determining genuine adverseness, the court shall consider formal and practical control over the parties and litigation, including appointment and removal authority; authority over executive-branch interpretations of law; control of defense, settlement, payment, records, privilege, or litigation strategy; identity or alignment of counsel and beneficiaries; failure to appear or assert ordinarily available defenses; and any agreement or coordinated conduct demonstrating a shared or unitary interest. Party labels, consent, or a representation that a dispute exists is not dispositive.

If the court determines that genuinely adverse legal interests sufficient for article III are absent, the court shall dismiss the action without prejudice. The dismissal order shall not approve, incorporate, enforce, or give legal effect to a settlement, compromise, release, immunity, payment, or other purported resolution. A court may not retain a constitutionally non-adverse action on its docket solely to preserve the claim or toll a time limit; preservation and tolling shall instead arise by operation of subsection (e).

(e) Post-dismissal and restricted-period tolling.

If an action is dismissed under subsection (d), or if a claim would be a covered civil action if filed during the covered executive official's service, any unexpired limitations period, exhaustion deadline, presentment deadline, or other time limit established by Federal law for commencing or preserving the claim against the United States, an executive agency, or an officer or employee thereof shall be tolled during the official's service in the office creating the conflict and until 1 year after that service ends.

For a covered action that remains pending under subsection (f), litigation and adjudicatory deadlines shall be tolled for the restricted period unless the court permits a particular deadline to run under subsection (h) or (i). This subsection does not revive a claim for which the applicable time limit expired before tolling began and does not determine the merits of a preserved claim.

(f) Controlled maintenance after genuine adversity is found.

If the court finds genuine article III adverseness and determines that the action is a covered civil action, the action may be received, docketed, preserved, investigated, and maintained during the covered executive official's service. Except as provided in subsection (h) or (i), it may not be adjudicated on the merits, settled, compromised, confessed, voluntarily dismissed in exchange for any benefit, paid, offset, or otherwise resolved for the personal or affiliated benefit of the covered executive official.

If an action becomes covered because the claimant assumes a covered office while the action is pending, the interim stay and screening requirements apply immediately upon assumption of office.

The court shall review a controlled-maintenance order not later than 180 days after entry and at least annually thereafter. At each review, the court shall determine whether coverage, adversity, preservation needs, and the statutory conflict continue; narrow or terminate unnecessary restrictions; and establish the least burdensome schedule consistent with this Act. On the claimant's request, the court shall dismiss the action without prejudice unless a short preservation period is necessary to protect another party's concrete rights. Tolling under subsection (e) continues after such a dismissal.

(g) Preservation orders.

After finding article III jurisdiction, a court may enter orders necessary to preserve evidence, prevent spoliation, maintain the status quo, protect privilege, protect classified information, or prevent irreparable loss of the claim, provided that such orders do not confer personal monetary relief, settlement benefit, or merits adjudication on the covered executive official except as provided in subsection (h) or (i). Before that finding, the court's authority is limited as provided in subsection (b). An agency may preserve records or take other nonadjudicatory preservation action required by otherwise applicable law.

(h) Court-permitted liability adjudication.

A court may permit a covered civil action to proceed to liability adjudication during the covered executive official's service only if the court finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that:

  1. the alleged injury is concrete, personal, and not manufactured for political, financial, settlement, or litigation advantage;
  2. the claim existed before the covered executive official assumed the conflicted office or arose from conduct by an adverse actor not subject to the covered executive official's supervision or control;
  3. continued deferral would cause substantial injustice that tolling, preservation orders, neutral investigation, or post-tenure adjudication cannot adequately prevent;
  4. the action continues to present genuinely adverse legal interests sufficient for article III throughout the proposed adjudication;
  5. liability adjudication can proceed before an independent tribunal and the defense of the United States is controlled by counsel, appointed and removable consistently with article II of the Constitution and otherwise applicable law, who possesses authority independent of the covered executive official to investigate facts, assert defenses, conduct discovery, determine litigation strategy, reject settlement, and seek appellate review;
  6. the covered executive official cannot control, direct, influence, or receive nonpublic strategic advantage from the defense, settlement, payment, records, privilege, classification, or litigation posture of the United States; and
  7. any judgment, settlement, compromise, payment, offset, indemnification, reimbursement, or compensation fund remains subject to section 5 and section 6.

An order under this subsection shall state the findings with particularity and shall use protective procedures adequate to prevent the covered executive official from using official authority to influence defense, settlement, payment, discovery, access to records, classification, privilege, or litigation strategy.

Unless the court makes the separate findings required by section 5(c), an order under this subsection shall bifurcate liability from damages, settlement, compromise, payment, offset, indemnification, reimbursement, and compensation-fund issues. The damages, settlement, compromise, payment, offset, indemnification, reimbursement, and compensation-fund phase shall be deferred until the covered executive official no longer holds the conflicted office.

(i) Injunctive relief to prevent ongoing harm.

A court may enter or enforce narrowly tailored injunctive relief during the covered executive official's service if the court finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that:

  1. the covered civil action alleges ongoing or imminent unlawful harm to a concrete legal interest;
  2. preservation orders, tolling, neutral investigation, liability-only adjudication, or post-tenure relief would not adequately prevent the harm;
  3. the injunction is limited to stopping or preventing the harm and does not award damages, settlement value, reimbursement, indemnification, offset, public funds, a compensation fund, or another personal monetary benefit;
  4. the action continues to present genuinely adverse legal interests sufficient for article III and the United States is represented by counsel with authority independent of the covered executive official concerning the requested relief;
  5. the covered executive official did not use official authority to control, direct, influence, or obtain nonpublic strategic advantage from the defense, settlement, payment, records, privilege, classification, or litigation posture of the United States; and
  6. the injunction can be administered without requiring the court to supervise ordinary executive operations beyond what is necessary to prevent the identified harm.

An order under this subsection shall state the findings with particularity and shall preserve section 5's settlement, payment, offset, indemnification, reimbursement, and compensation-fund restrictions.

SEC. 5. SETTLEMENT, PAYMENT, AND FUNDING BAR.

(a) Prohibited actions.

During the covered executive official's service in the office creating the conflict, including during the automatic interim stay under section 4(b), after a dismissal under section 4(d), or while a covered civil action is subject to controlled maintenance under section 4(f), no officer, employee, agency, component, or representative of the United States may:

  1. settle, compromise, confess liability, stipulate to liability, consent to judgment, or admit monetary responsibility in the covered civil action;
  2. pay, reimburse, indemnify, offset, satisfy, or compromise any claim in the covered civil action using public funds;
  3. authorize payment from the Judgment Fund or agency funds;
  4. file, join, accept, implement, or give effect to a notice or stipulation of dismissal contrary to section 4(b), or dismiss an action in exchange for a personal legal or settlement benefit to the covered executive official;
  5. approve, create, implement, or recognize a release, immunity, nonenforcement assurance, audit restriction, investigation restriction, or materially equivalent protection arising from the covered claim;
  6. create, administer, or fund, as consideration for resolving the covered claim, a compensation program, class fund, claims facility, settlement fund, or comparable payment mechanism for the covered executive official, an affiliated person or entity, or a beneficiary class selected or controlled by the covered executive official; or
  7. take any materially equivalent action that resolves the claim for the personal or affiliated benefit of the covered executive official.

(b) Express later authorization.

Subsection (a) may be displaced only by a later Act of Congress that:

  1. expressly identifies the covered civil action or covered class of actions;
  2. expressly authorizes the settlement, compromise, payment, fund, or other resolution notwithstanding this Act;
  3. identifies the payment source; and
  4. expressly states whether the authorization applies to the President, the Vice President, or another identified covered office.

General appropriations language, general settlement authority, general Judgment Fund authority, or general claims-processing authority is not sufficient to displace this Act.

(c) Heightened damages or payment authorization after permitted liability adjudication.

If a court permits liability adjudication under section 4(h), or injunctive relief under section 4(i), no damages phase, judgment amount, settlement, compromise, payment, offset, indemnification, reimbursement, or compensation fund may be determined, paid, or implemented during the covered executive official's service unless the court separately finds, by clear and convincing evidence, after notice under section 6, that:

  1. the amount and form of relief are required by law and are not the product of collusion, manufactured adverseness, political favoritism, or executive self-dealing;
  2. the payment source is expressly authorized by law for that claim;
  3. the covered executive official did not control, direct, influence, or receive nonpublic strategic advantage from the defense, settlement, payment, or litigation posture of the United States; and
  4. no reasonable post-tenure deferral, escrow, bond, declaratory judgment, preservation order, liability-only judgment, or other less conflicted remedy would prevent substantial injustice.

SEC. 6. NOTICE TO CONGRESS.

Not later than 7 days after a potentially covered civil action is filed, becomes covered, or is otherwise brought to the attention of an officer, employee, agency, component, or representative of the United States, the Attorney General shall provide notice to the Committees on the Judiciary and Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The notice duty does not depend on completion of screening, an appearance by the United States, or agreement that the action is covered.

The notice shall identify the covered executive official, the defendant or responding entity, the nature of the claim, the payment authority implicated, the status of automatic screening, any adversity determination, dismissal, restriction, controlled-maintenance order, adjudication order, or preservation order entered or requested, and any attempted settlement, compromise, payment, offset, release, immunity, audit restriction, investigation restriction, or fund creation.

Not later than 3 business days after entry of an unsealed screening order under section 4(d), the clerk of the court shall transmit a copy to those committees. A sealed screening order shall be transmitted through a lawful protected channel with only those redactions necessary to comply with law and the court's particularized findings.

The notice may be classified, redacted, or submitted in camera where required by law, court order, privilege, grand-jury secrecy, tax-return confidentiality, privacy, or national-security protection, but the Attorney General shall provide an unclassified or publicly releasable summary to the maximum extent permitted by law. Return information may be disclosed only through a channel authorized by section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, including subsection (f) of that section where applicable; this Act does not independently authorize its disclosure.

SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON CATEGORICAL AUDIT IMMUNITY.

(a) Amendment to the Internal Revenue Code.

Section 7217 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(f) Categorical audit immunity prohibited.—

“(1) In general.—No Federal actor may, directly or indirectly, enter into, offer, negotiate, approve, create, implement, recognize, or give effect to a prohibited audit-immunity term for any taxpayer.

“(2) Covered instruments.—Paragraph (1) applies to any agreement, settlement, compromise, release, covenant, consent judgment, order, assurance, representation, memorandum, side letter, nonenforcement commitment, or other written or oral instrument or undertaking that purports to bind the United States, the Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice, or any officer, employee, agency, component, representative, counsel, or agent thereof.

“(3) Universal application.—This subsection applies without regard to the identity, office, status, political affiliation, relationship, wealth, organizational form, or asserted grievance of the taxpayer or any affiliated person or entity, and without regard to whether the Federal actor or taxpayer is an applicable person under subsection (e).

“(g) Legal effect.—

“(1) Void from inception.—A prohibited audit-immunity term is void ab initio, unenforceable, and without legal effect.

“(2) No consideration or reliance.—A prohibited audit-immunity term may not constitute consideration for a settlement, compromise, dismissal, payment, release, waiver, or other government action and creates no claim of estoppel, detrimental reliance, contract, property, immunity, privilege, or entitlement against the United States or any officer or agency thereof.

“(3) Mandatory disregard.—The Internal Revenue Service and every Federal actor shall disregard a prohibited audit-immunity term. No audit, examination, investigation, assessment, collection action, information request, summons, referral, or other lawful tax-administration action may be prevented, delayed, restricted, conditioned, terminated, or penalized because of such a term.

“(4) Remaining provisions.—No payment, dismissal, release, waiver, or other performance may be supported in whole or in part by a prohibited audit-immunity term. The validity of a remaining provision supported entirely by independent lawful consideration shall be determined under otherwise applicable law.

“(h) Exclusions and preservation of lawful finality.—A prohibited audit-immunity term does not include:

“(1) a provision expressly authorized by a later Act of Congress that specifically identifies the affected class of taxpayers, taxable periods, matters, and scope of the authorized limitation and expressly refers to this section;

“(2) a closing agreement under section 7121, but only to the extent the agreement finally resolves an identified taxpayer's liability for a specified tax, taxable period, transaction, item, or matter and does not restrict examination beyond the matters and taxable periods specifically and lawfully resolved;

“(3) a compromise under section 7122, but only to the extent the compromise resolves an identified liability or case and does not restrict examination beyond the liabilities, matters, and taxable periods specifically and lawfully resolved;

“(4) the preclusive effect of a final judgment or final administrative determination as to a claim, issue, liability, or taxable period actually adjudicated or resolved according to law;

“(5) expiration of a limitations period, satisfaction of a liability, or another generally applicable rule of finality established by Federal tax law; or

“(6) a narrowly tailored judicial order remedying unlawful conduct in a particular audit or investigation, if the order does not prohibit a lawful examination of another matter or taxable period.

“(i) Ordinary tax-administration discretion preserved.—Nothing in subsection (f) requires the Internal Revenue Service to audit or investigate any taxpayer or prevents authorized Internal Revenue Service personnel, applying otherwise lawful and generally applicable criteria, from selecting, prioritizing, scoping, resolving, closing, or declining an audit, examination, investigation, assessment, collection action, information request, summons, or referral. Such discretion may not be exercised pursuant to, or in consideration of, a prohibited audit-immunity term.

“(j) Reporting and congressional notice.—

“(1) Inspector General report.—Any Federal actor, and any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service, who receives a request to approve or implement, or obtains actual knowledge of, a prohibited audit-immunity term shall report the matter to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration not later than 7 days thereafter.

“(2) Congressional notice.—Not later than 30 days after receiving a report under paragraph (1), the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shall notify the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate. The notice shall protect return information and other information protected by law while describing the instrument, responsible offices, implementation status, and corrective action to the maximum lawful extent.

“(k) Definitions.—In this section:

“(1) Federal actor.—The term ‘Federal actor’ means the President, the Vice President, an officer or employee of the executive branch, an executive department or agency, or a contractor, representative, counsel, or agent acting within actual or apparent authority delegated by the executive branch, including the Attorney General and an authorized officer, employee, representative, counsel, or agent of the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, or the Internal Revenue Service.

“(2) Prohibited audit-immunity term.—The term ‘prohibited audit-immunity term’ means a term, promise, commitment, or undertaking that, except as provided in subsection (h), has the material purpose or effect of directly or indirectly—

“(A) prohibiting, preventing, delaying, restricting, conditioning, terminating, or penalizing an audit, examination, investigation, assessment, collection action, information request, summons, referral, or other lawful tax-administration action concerning an identified taxpayer or affiliated person or entity;

“(B) promising that an identified taxpayer or affiliated person or entity will not be selected or considered for such an action concerning a matter or taxable period not specifically and lawfully resolved under subsection (h); or

“(C) conferring preferred, exempt, immune, or nonenforcement status in Federal tax administration based on identity, office, affiliation, relationship, political status, settlement, release, or an asserted grievance against the United States.

“(3) Affiliated person or entity.—The term ‘affiliated person or entity’ means a spouse, dependent, immediate family member, related taxpayer within the meaning of section 267(b) or 707(b)(1), entity under common ownership or control, trust, representative, agent, successor, assignee, or other person or entity through which the taxpayer would receive the benefit of a prohibited audit-immunity term.

“(l) Inspector General review and corrective referral.—The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shall review each report received under subsection (j), determine whether a prohibited audit-immunity term was attempted or implemented, recommend corrective action, and refer apparent willful misconduct to the appropriate inspector general, ethics official, disciplinary authority, or law-enforcement authority under otherwise applicable law. Nothing in subsections (f) through (l) creates or expands criminal liability under subsection (d).”.

(b) Effective date and continuing instruments.

The amendments made by subsection (a) apply to:

  1. an instrument or undertaking entered into, offered, negotiated, approved, created, renewed, extended, or modified on or after the date of enactment; and
  2. any implementation, recognition, payment, dismissal, release, restraint on tax administration, or other prospective performance occurring on or after the date of enactment under an instrument or undertaking entered into before that date.

Nothing in this subsection reopens a final judgment, a completed closing agreement under section 7121 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or a completed compromise under section 7122 of that Code. No inference shall be drawn from this section that any Federal actor possessed authority before enactment to confer categorical audit immunity.

SEC. 8. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to:

  1. extinguish a covered executive official's underlying claim;
  2. prevent a covered executive official from pursuing a covered claim after leaving the conflicted office;
  3. authorize disclosure of tax-return information, classified information, grand-jury material, privileged material, or other protected information;
  4. limit ordinary official-capacity litigation by the United States or an executive officer acting solely on behalf of the United States;
  5. prohibit criminal investigation or prosecution authorized by law;
  6. authorize payment from public funds otherwise prohibited by law; or
  7. displace review otherwise available under chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code, or another Act of Congress, except to the extent this Act supplies a more specific rule.

SEC. 9. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

(a) Filing court.

The federal court in which a potentially covered civil action is filed shall determine its jurisdiction and has a mandatory duty, to the extent consistent with article III of the Constitution, to conduct the screening required by section 4 and dismiss a constitutionally non-adverse action. If jurisdiction exists, the court shall apply the controlled-maintenance, preservation, and payment-bar requirements of this Act. The automatic interim stay and tolling rules operate by statute. The court retains authority to determine its jurisdiction and to address sanctions, court records, fees, costs, contempt, protected-information handling, and other collateral matters within its lawful authority. A notice or stipulation of dismissal filed before completion of screening is ineffective under section 4(b) and Rule 41(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

(b) Civil enforcement action.

A civil action may be brought in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to enforce section 5, section 6, or section 7 by:

  1. a person suffering a concrete and particularized injury caused by a violation or imminent violation of the provision to be enforced;
  2. the House of Representatives or the Senate, if the action is authorized by resolution of the chamber and alleges that an imminent or completed expenditure violates an express statutory condition on Federal funds or that denial of information expressly required to be provided to that chamber concretely impairs an identified appropriations or legislative function; or
  3. the United States acting through an officer expressly authorized by law to bring the action.

This subsection creates no standing based solely on status as a taxpayer, voter, citizen, Member of Congress, or beneficiary of lawful tax administration. It does not deem an injury sufficient under article III, and it does not authorize one House, a committee, or a Member to sue without the chamber authorization required by paragraph (2).

(c) Cause of action, jurisdiction, and waiver.

An eligible plaintiff under subsection (b) has a cause of action for declaratory or prospective injunctive relief against the agency head, fund-certifying officer, payment official, or other subordinate officer responsible for the alleged violation. The district court has jurisdiction under section 1331 of title 28, United States Code. The United States waives sovereign immunity for relief authorized by this section. Final agency action and exhaustion are not required if the challenged agreement, payment, release, immunity, audit restriction, investigation restriction, fund creation, or notice failure is final, operative, or imminently enforceable and delay would defeat effective review.

Neither the President nor the Vice President may be named as a defendant or subjected to coercive relief under this section. Relief shall run against a subordinate officer responsible for implementation.

(d) Remedies and limits.

If article III jurisdiction and a violation are established, the court may declare coverage; enjoin an unlawful payment or prospective implementation; compel a notice or report; require preservation of relevant agency records; or grant other prospective relief no broader than necessary to enforce this Act. The court may order return of a payment only in an action brought by the United States, from a recipient named and served as a party, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, and only for a payment made on or after enactment that is recoverable under otherwise applicable Federal debt-collection or restitution law. The court may not award damages under this Act, supervise ordinary executive operations, direct the discretionary outcome of a lawful audit or investigation, or order relief against the President or Vice President.

(e) Expedition and protected information.

Review under this section shall be expedited. A court may consider sealed, privileged, classified, tax-return, protected, or in camera material under procedures adequate to prevent unauthorized disclosure. The court shall:

  1. require use of a secure or otherwise lawful channel for protected material;
  2. permit ex parte or in camera submission only to the extent necessary to protect an interest recognized by law;
  3. use an unclassified summary, redacted filing, stipulation, substitute, or other less restrictive alternative when it can permit fair adjudication without unlawful disclosure;
  4. make particularized findings before sealing or restricting access; and
  5. refrain from ordering disclosure of return information except as authorized by section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or of classified, privileged, grand-jury, or other protected information except as authorized by otherwise applicable law.

If protected information cannot lawfully be disclosed or adequately substituted, the court shall resolve the matter through a lawful burden allocation, narrower relief, or dismissal rather than direct an unauthorized disclosure.

(f) Appellate review.

  1. Final orders. A final judgment or dismissal under section 4 or this section is appealable under section 1291 of title 28, United States Code.
  2. Interlocutory orders. A court of appeals has jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal from an order that determines coverage or genuine adversity under section 4, imposes or continues controlled maintenance, grants or denies relief under section 4(h) or 4(i), or grants or denies preliminary relief under this section. The notice of appeal shall be filed not later than 14 days after entry of the order.
  3. Proper court of appeals. An appeal from a filing court lies in the court of appeals for the regional circuit. An appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia lies in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
  4. Expedition and stay. The court of appeals shall expedite the appeal. An appeal does not automatically stay the statutory prohibitions or the order under review, but either court may grant a tailored stay under otherwise applicable standards.
  5. Continuing collateral matters. An attempted voluntary dismissal does not moot review of a screening determination, interim prohibition, sanction, or other collateral order that remains legally operative.

SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2033 such sums as may be necessary for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to carry out this Act. This section provides no budget authority and no authority to obligate or expend funds in advance of an appropriation.

SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.

This Act shall apply to a covered civil action pending on the date of enactment and to a covered civil action initiated thereafter. It does not reopen a final judgment, a dismissal effective before enactment, or a settlement fully performed before enactment, and it does not revive a claim for which the applicable time limit expired before tolling began. A pending potentially covered action is subject to the statutory interim prohibition upon enactment, and the court shall complete section 4 screening not later than 30 days thereafter, except that the court may extend that period once for not more than 15 days upon particularized good-cause findings. No damages, penalty, or repayment liability arises under this Act solely from conduct completed before enactment; sections 5 and 7 apply to prospective implementation occurring after enactment as otherwise provided.

SEC. 12. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of this Act and the application of its provisions to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected. Congress intends the following rules to remain independently operative to the maximum constitutional extent:

  1. the automatic screening and mandatory dismissal rules are severable from controlled maintenance and the adjudication exceptions;
  2. the statutory settlement, payment, release, immunity, and funding prohibitions are severable from a court's authority to enforce them in a particular action;
  3. each plaintiff category and remedy in section 9 is severable from every other category and remedy;
  4. the section 7217 amendment is severable from the executive self-litigation provisions; and
  5. the invalidity of the Rule 41 treatment in a particular application does not invalidate the statutory prohibitions, tolling, reporting, or prospective tax-administration rules.

Budgetary Impact Statement

The bill creates no new office, judgeship, direct spending authority, or mandatory appropriation. Incremental workload may fall on filing courts, the District Court for the District of Columbia, DOJ, affected agencies, Treasury, IRS, TIGTA, and congressional committees. The fiscal year 2027 Judiciary request totals $9.7 billion in discretionary funding, and TIGTA's fiscal year 2027 justification identifies a $137.661 million request for 508 FTE while reporting substantial mandatory-review and staffing pressure; those systemwide figures are capacity comparators, not estimates of this bill's cost. Because no reliable source establishes the number of covered actions, attempted instruments, staff hours, protected notices, or enforcement cases, section 10 authorizes such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2027 through 2033 but provides no budget authority. AOUSC, Treasury, TIGTA, IRS, DOJ, CBO, OMB, and appropriators should develop a workload estimate before enactment.

Note: Preliminary ARRP assessment only; not a CBO, OMB, agency, or legislative-counsel score.

Drafting Notes

  • The filing of a potentially covered action automatically triggers a sua sponte Article III adverseness screen and an interim anti-evasion stay. No government appearance, motion, answer, or objection is required.
  • Rule 41 dismissal notices and stipulations are ineffective until the court completes screening, preventing the parties from eliminating merits jurisdiction before the court determines whether a genuine case or controversy exists.
  • A constitutionally non-adverse action must be dismissed without prejudice rather than retained on the docket. Statutory tolling preserves any still-timely underlying claim through the conflicted service and for 1 year afterward without reviving a claim already time-barred when tolling began.
  • Controlled maintenance applies only after the court finds genuine Article III adversity but determines that a separate statutory self-litigation conflict remains.
  • The President and Vice President are expressly included as covered executive officials, and displacement of the rule requires a later Act of Congress that expressly states whether it applies to the identified office.
  • Vice President coverage requires formal authority, delegated responsibility, or actual participation or direction concerning the defense, settlement, payment, records, privilege, classification, or litigation decision at issue; title, political alignment, or access alone is insufficient.
  • The official-capacity savings clause is limited to litigation exercised solely on behalf of the United States or the office. It should not protect a claim that practically confers personal or affiliated benefit.
  • The court-permitted adjudication exception is designed for legitimate injuries, including preexisting claims or adverse actions initiated by actors outside the official's control. It requires both an independent tribunal and genuinely independent authority to defend the United States; tribunal independence alone does not create adverse parties. Liability adjudication is separated from damages, settlement, and payment unless the court makes separate heightened findings.
  • The injunctive-relief safety valve is designed to stop ongoing or imminent harm without allowing damages, settlement, reimbursement, indemnification, offset, public funds, or compensation funds during covered service.
  • The payment bar is designed to prevent litigation from becoming a substitute for express congressional authorization of a compensation fund.
  • Section 7 amends 26 U.S.C. § 7217 for every taxpayer and Federal actor, including the Attorney General and persons acting for the United States. A prohibited prospective or categorical audit-immunity term is void from inception, cannot support consideration or estoppel, and must be disregarded by the IRS. The amendment deliberately does not extend section 7217(d)'s five-year felony to the broader instrument and reporting provisions; TIGTA instead reviews attempted terms and makes corrective or misconduct referrals under otherwise applicable law.
  • The § 7217 amendment preserves case-specific finality under sections 7121 and 7122, final judgments, limitations periods, and ordinary neutral IRS enforcement discretion. Those exceptions do not permit restrictions concerning unidentified matters or future taxable periods.
  • The amendment reaches prospective implementation after enactment of a pre-enactment audit-immunity term without reopening completed closing agreements, completed compromises, or final judgments.
  • The publication check verified the nonmonetary emergency-relief, controlled-maintenance, repayment-process, protected-information, appeal, prospective-application, authorization, and severability provisions and found no broken operative cross-reference.

Source Notes

  • Existing-law review should include the Judgment Fund under 31 U.S.C. § 1304, DOJ judgment and compromise-payment mechanics under 28 U.S.C. § 2414, tax-return confidentiality remedies under 26 U.S.C. § 7431, executive audit-interference restrictions under 26 U.S.C. § 7217, closing agreements under 26 U.S.C. § 7121, and compromises under 26 U.S.C. § 7122.
  • The June 24, 2026 amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 7007 supplies the official text of the NO CARTE BLANCHE Act. It combines H.R. 8914 and H.R. 9210, restricts Judgment Fund payments, and proposes 28 U.S.C. § 2414a judicial review of presidential settlements. EMOL-015 adds automatic filing-stage screening, non-adversity dismissal, controlled maintenance, a broader covered-official conflict rule, and a universal categorical audit-immunity prohibition.
  • Docket entry 106 issued on the internal project review date. No same-day public record can responsibly establish the outcome of an appeal, reconsideration, fee, or disciplinary process; those matters require refresh immediately before circulation.
  • The publication check checked the operative text against Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12 and 41; 5 U.S.C. chapter 7; 26 U.S.C. §§ 6103, 7121, 7122, 7217, and 7431; 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291, 1292, 1331, and 2414; and 31 U.S.C. § 1304. Legislative counsel must repeat the current-Code and rule check at introduction.
  • Constitutional review should test Article II, due process, access to courts, sovereign immunity, justiciability, separation of powers, and Congress's appropriations authority.