I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 424
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for penalties for the
unauthorized disclosure of confidential information by officers or employ-
ees of the Supreme Court, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY20, 2023
Mr. J
OHNSONof Louisiana (for himself, Mr. VANDREW, Mr. DONALDS, Mr.
W
EBERof Texas, and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for pen-
alties for the unauthorized disclosure of confidential in-
formation by officers or employees of the Supreme Court,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Leaker Accountability 4
Act of 2023’’. 5
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SEC. 2. OBSTRUCTION OF SUPREME COURT DELIBERA-1
TIONS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 18, United 3
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-4
lowing new section: 5
‘‘SEC. 1522. OBSTRUCTION OF SUPREME COURT DELIBERA-6
TIONS. 7
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Whoever, while serving as an of-8
ficer or employee of the Supreme Court, violates this sec-9
tion by knowingly publishing, divulging, disclosing, or 10
making known in any manner or to any extent not author-11
ized by law any confidential information coming to that 12
officer or employee in the course of the employment or 13
official duties of that officer or employee shall be impris-14
oned not more than 5 years or fined under this title, or 15
both. 16
‘‘(b) C
ONFIDENTIALINFORMATION DEFINED.—In 17
this section, the term ‘confidential information’ includes 18
internal notes on cases heard by the Supreme Court, any 19
communication between a Justice of the Supreme Court 20
and an employee or officer of the Supreme Court or com-21
munication between officers and employees of the Su-22
preme Court on a matter pending before the Supreme 23
Court, a draft opinion, a final opinion prior to the date 24
on which such opinion is released to the public, personal 25
information of a Justice of the Supreme Court that is not 26
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•HR 424 IH
otherwise legally available to the public, and any other in-1
formation designated to be confidential by the Chief Jus-2
tice of the Supreme Court prior to the date on which a 3
violation of subsection (a) occurs.’’. 4
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of sections at 5
the beginning of chapter 73 of title 18, United States 6
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘1522. Obstruction of Supreme Court deliberations.’’.
Æ
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