I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 464
To restore the separation of powers between the Congress and the President.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2023
Mr. G
OSAR(for himself, Mr. MASSIE, and Ms. HAGEMAN) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and
in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Rules, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To restore the separation of powers between the Congress
and the President.
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 ‘‘Separation of Powers 4
Restoration Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) As a limit on governmental power, constitu-8
tional framers vested Federal powers in three co-9
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•HR 464 IH
equal branches of government, each with unique and 1
limited powers and each with a coequal duty to up-2
hold and sustain the Constitution of the United 3
States. 4
(2) A Supreme Court justice stated, ‘‘The doc-5
trine of the separation of powers was adopted by the 6
convention of 1787 not to promote efficiency but to 7
preclude the exercise of arbitrary power. The pur-8
pose was not to avoid friction, but, by means of the 9
inevitable friction incident to the distribution of the 10
governmental powers among three departments, to 11
save the people from autocracy.’’ Myers v. United 12
States, 272 U.S. 52, 293 (1926) (Brandeis, J., dis-13
senting). 14
(3) James Madison, quoting Montesquieu, stat-15
ed in Federalist 47, ‘‘There can be no liberty where 16
the legislative and executive powers are united in the 17
same person, or body of magistrates.’’. 18
(4) Article I of the Constitution provides, ‘‘All 19
legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 20
a Congress of the United States.’’. 21
(5) A congressional committee print has noted 22
that, ‘‘[b]ecause the President has no power or au-23
thority over individual citizens and their rights ex-24
cept where he is granted such power and authority 25
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by a provision in the Constitution or by statute, the 1
President’s proclamations are not legally binding 2
and are at best hortatory unless based on such 3
grants of authority.’’ 85th Cong., 1st Sess., Execu-4
tive Orders and Proclamations: A Study of a Use of 5
Presidential Powers (Comm. Print 1957). 6
(6) The Supreme Court has stated that, even if 7
Presidents have, without congressional authority, 8
taken actions only the Congress may take, ‘‘Con-9
gress has not thereby lost its exclusive constitutional 10
authority to make laws necessary and proper to 11
carry out the powers vested by the Constitution ‘in 12
the Government of the United States, or any De-13
partment or Officer thereof.’’’. (Youngstown Sheet 14
& Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952)). 15
(7) Treaties or executive agreements which pur-16
port to assign powers not amongst those specifically 17
granted to the Federal Government by the Constitu-18
tion are non-binding and cannot constitute law. 19
SEC. 3. SEPARATION OF POWERS RESTORING RESCIS-20
SIONS. 21
(a) R
EPEAL OFWARPOWERSRESOLUTION.—The 22
War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.) is re-23
pealed. 24
(b) T
ERMINATION OFSTATES OFEMERGENCY.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—All powers and authorities 1
possessed by the President, any other officer or em-2
ployee of the Federal Government, or any executive 3
agency (as defined in section 105 of title 5) as a re-4
sult of the existence of any declaration of national 5
emergency in effect on the date of enactment of this 6
Act are terminated 90 days after such date. Such 7
termination shall not affect— 8
(A) any action taken or proceeding pend-9
ing not finally concluded or determined on such 10
date; 11
(B) any action or proceeding based on any 12
act committed prior to such date; or 13
(C) any rights or duties that matured or 14
penalties that were incurred prior to such date. 15
(2) D
EFINITION.—For the purpose of this sub-16
section, the term ‘‘national emergency’’ means a 17
general declaration of emergency made by the Presi-18
dent or any other officer or employee of the execu-19
tive branch. 20
(c) T
ERMINATION OF AUTHORITYTODECLARE 21
E
MERGENCY.—To the extent that any Act of Congress in 22
effect on the date of enactment of this Act grants to the 23
President or any other officer or employee of the executive 24
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branch the power to declare a national emergency, such 1
power is hereby divested to the Congress alone. 2
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT OF STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY FOR 3
PRESIDENTIAL ORDERS. 4
(a) S
TATEMENT OF AUTHORITY.—The President 5
shall include with each Presidential order a statement of 6
the specific statutory or constitutional provision which in 7
fact grants the President the authority claimed for such 8
action. 9
(b) I
NVALIDITY OFNONCONFORMING ORDERS.—A 10
Presidential order which does not include the statement 11
required by subsection (a) is invalid, to the extent such 12
Presidential order is issued under authority granted by a 13
congressional enactment. 14
SEC. 5. EFFECT OF PRESIDENTIAL ORDERS. 15
(a) L
IMITEDEFFECT OFPRESIDENTIALORDERS.— 16
A Presidential order neither constitutes nor has the force 17
of law and is limited in its application and effect to the 18
executive branch. 19
(b) E
XCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not apply 20
to— 21
(1) a reprieve or pardon for an offense against 22
the United States, except in cases of impeachment; 23
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(2) an order given to military personnel pursu-1
ant to duties specifically related to actions taken as 2
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces; or 3
(3) a Presidential order citing the specific con-4
gressional enactment relied upon for the authority 5
exercised in such order and— 6
(A) issued pursuant to such authority; 7
(B) commensurate with the limit imposed 8
by the plain language of such authority; and 9
(C) not issued pursuant to a ratified or un-10
ratified treaty or bilateral or multilateral agree-11
ment which— 12
(i) violates the ninth or tenth amend-13
ments to the Constitution; or 14
(ii) makes a delegation of power to a 15
foreign government or international body 16
when no such delegating authority exists 17
under the Constitution. 18
SEC. 6. STANDING TO CHALLENGE PRESIDENTIAL ORDERS 19
WHICH IMPACT SEPARATION OF POWERS IN-20
TEGRITY. 21
The following persons may bring an action in an ap-22
propriate United States court to challenge the validity of 23
any Presidential order which exceeds the power granted 24
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to the President by the relevant authorizing statute or the 1
Constitution: 2
(1) C
ONGRESS AND ITS MEMBERS .—The House 3
of Representatives, the Senate, any Senator, and 4
any Representative to the House of Representatives, 5
if the challenged Presidential order— 6
(A) infringes on any power of Congress; 7
(B) exceeds any power granted by a con-8
gressional enactment; or 9
(C) violates section 4 because it does not 10
state the statutory authority which in fact 11
grants the President the power claimed for the 12
action taken in such Presidential order. 13
(2) S
TATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS .—The 14
highest governmental official of any State, common-15
wealth, district, territory, or possession of the 16
United States, or any political subdivision thereof, or 17
the designee of such person, if the challenged Presi-18
dential order infringes on the powers afforded to the 19
States under the Constitution. 20
(3) A
GGRIEVED PERSONS .—Any person ag-21
grieved in a liberty or property interest adversely af-22
fected directly by the challenged Presidential order. 23
SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF PRESIDENTIAL ORDER. 24
In this Act, the term ‘‘Presidential order’’ means— 25
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(1) any Executive order, Presidential proclama-1
tion, or Presidential directive; and 2
(2) any other Presidential or Executive action 3
by whatever name described purporting to have nor-4
mative effect outside the executive branch which is 5
issued under the authority of the President or any 6
other officer or employee of the executive branch. 7
Æ
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