Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1811 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1811
5	5	To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide an Inspector General
6	6	for the judicial branch, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH3, 2025
9	9	Ms. S
10	10	TANSBURY(for herself, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CLEAVER,
11	11	Ms. T
12	12	LAIB, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia,
13	13	Mrs. R
14	14	AMIREZ, and Ms. MCCOLLUM) introduced the following bill; which
15	15	was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide an Inspec-
18	18	tor General for the judicial branch, and for other pur-
19	19	poses.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Judicial Ethics En-4
24	24	forcement Act of 2025’’. 5
25	25	SEC. 2. INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR THE JUDICIAL BRANCH. 6
26	26	(a) E
27	27	STABLISHMENT AND DUTIES.—Part III of title 7
28	28	28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 8
29	29	the following: 9
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32	32	•HR 1811 IH
33	33	‘‘CHAPTER 60—INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR 1
34	34	THE JUDICIAL BRANCH 2
35	35	‘‘Sec.
36	36	‘‘1021. Establishment.
37	37	‘‘1022. Appointment, term, and removal of Inspector General.
38	38	‘‘1023. Duties.
39	39	‘‘1024. Powers.
40	40	‘‘1025. Reports.
41	41	‘‘1026. Whistleblower protection.
42	42	‘‘§ 1021. Establishment 3
43	43	‘‘There is established for the judicial branch of the 4
44	44	Government the Office of Inspector General for the Judi-5
45	45	cial Branch (in this chapter referred to as the ‘Office’). 6
46	46	‘‘§ 1022. Appointment, term, and removal of Inspector 7
47	47	General 8
48	48	‘‘(a) A
49	49	PPOINTMENT.—The head of the Office shall be 9
50	50	the Inspector General, who shall be appointed by the Chief 10
51	51	Justice of the United States after consultation with the 11
52	52	majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the 12
53	53	Speaker and minority leader of the House of Representa-13
54	54	tives. 14
55	55	‘‘(b) T
56	56	ERM.—The Inspector General shall serve for 15
57	57	a term of 4 years and may be reappointed by the Chief 16
58	58	Justice of the United States for any number of additional 17
59	59	terms. 18
60	60	‘‘(c) R
61	61	EMOVAL.—The Inspector General may be re-19
62	62	moved from office by the Chief Justice of the United 20
63	63	States. The Chief Justice shall communicate the reasons 21
64	64	for any such removal to both Houses of Congress. 22
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67	67	•HR 1811 IH
68	68	‘‘§ 1023. Duties 1
69	69	‘‘With respect to the judicial branch, the Office 2
70	70	shall— 3
71	71	‘‘(1) conduct investigations of alleged mis-4
72	72	conduct in the judicial branch (other than the 5
73	73	United States Supreme Court) under chapter 16 6
74	74	that may require oversight or other action within the 7
75	75	judicial branch or by Congress; 8
76	76	‘‘(2) conduct investigations of alleged violations 9
77	77	of the Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme 10
78	78	Court of the United States or any other alleged mis-11
79	79	conduct in the United States Supreme Court that 12
80	80	may require oversight or other action within the ju-13
81	81	dicial branch or by Congress; 14
82	82	‘‘(3) conduct and supervise audits and inves-15
83	83	tigations; 16
84	84	‘‘(4) prevent and detect waste, fraud, and 17
85	85	abuse; and 18
86	86	‘‘(5) recommend changes in laws or regulations 19
87	87	governing the judicial branch. 20
88	88	‘‘§ 1024. Powers 21
89	89	‘‘(a) P
90	90	OWERS.—In carrying out the duties of the Of-22
91	91	fice, the Inspector General shall have the power to— 23
92	92	‘‘(1) make investigations and reports; 24
93	93	‘‘(2) obtain information or assistance from any 25
94	94	Federal, State, or local governmental agency, or 26
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97	97	•HR 1811 IH
98	98	other entity, or unit thereof, including all informa-1
99	99	tion kept in the course of business by the Judicial 2
100	100	Conference of the United States, the judicial coun-3
101	101	cils of circuits, the Administrative Office of the 4
102	102	United States Courts, and the United States Sen-5
103	103	tencing Commission; 6
104	104	‘‘(3) require, by subpoena or otherwise, the at-7
105	105	tendance and testimony of such witnesses, and the 8
106	106	production of such books, records, correspondence, 9
107	107	memoranda, papers, and documents, which sub-10
108	108	poena, in the case of contumacy or refusal to obey, 11
109	109	shall be enforceable by civil action; 12
110	110	‘‘(4) administer to or take from any person an 13
111	111	oath, affirmation, or affidavit; 14
112	112	‘‘(5) employ such officers and employees, sub-15
113	113	ject to the provisions of title 5, governing appoint-16
114	114	ments in the competitive service, and the provisions 17
115	115	of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of 18
116	116	such title relating to classification and General 19
117	117	Schedule pay rates; 20
118	118	‘‘(6) obtain services as authorized by section 21
119	119	3109 of title 5 at daily rates not to exceed the equiv-22
120	120	alent rate for a position at level IV of the Executive 23
121	121	Schedule under section 5315 of such title; and 24
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124	124	•HR 1811 IH
125	125	‘‘(7) the extent and in such amounts as may be 1
126	126	provided in advance by appropriations Acts, to enter 2
127	127	into contracts and other arrangements for audits, 3
128	128	studies, analyses, and other services with public 4
129	129	agencies and with private persons, and to make such 5
130	130	payments as may be necessary to carry out the du-6
131	131	ties of the Office. 7
132	132	‘‘(b) C
133	133	HAPTER16 MATTERS.—The Inspector General 8
134	134	shall not commence an investigation under section 9
135	135	1023(1) until the denial of a petition for review by the 10
136	136	judicial council of the circuit under section 352(c) of this 11
137	137	title or upon referral or certification to the Judicial Con-12
138	138	ference of the United States of any matter under section 13
139	139	354(b) of this title. 14
140	140	‘‘(c) L
141	141	IMITATION.—The Inspector General shall not 15
142	142	have the authority to— 16
143	143	‘‘(1) investigate or review any matter that is di-17
144	144	rectly related to the merits of a decision or proce-18
145	145	dural ruling by any judge, justice, or court; or 19
146	146	‘‘(2) punish or discipline any judge, justice, or 20
147	147	court. 21
148	148	‘‘§ 1025. Reports 22
149	149	‘‘(a) W
150	150	HENTOBEMADE.—The Inspector General 23
151	151	shall— 24
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154	154	•HR 1811 IH
155	155	‘‘(1) make an annual report to the Chief Jus-1
156	156	tice and to Congress relating to the activities of the 2
157	157	Office; and 3
158	158	‘‘(2) make prompt reports to the Chief Justice 4
159	159	and to Congress on matters that may require action 5
160	160	by the Chief Justice or Congress. 6
161	161	‘‘(b) S
162	162	ENSITIVEMATTER.—If a report contains sen-7
163	163	sitive matter, the Inspector General may so indicate and 8
164	164	Congress may receive that report in closed session. 9
165	165	‘‘(c) D
166	166	UTYTOINFORMATTORNEYGENERAL.—In 10
167	167	carrying out the duties of the Office, the Inspector General 11
168	168	shall report expeditiously to the Attorney General when-12
169	169	ever the Inspector General has reasonable grounds to be-13
170	170	lieve there has been a violation of Federal criminal law. 14
171	171	‘‘§ 1026. Whistleblower protection 15
172	172	‘‘(a) I
173	173	NGENERAL.—No officer, employee, agent, con-16
174	174	tractor, or subcontractor in the judicial branch may dis-17
175	175	charge, demote, threaten, suspend, harass, or in any other 18
176	176	manner discriminate against an employee in the terms and 19
177	177	conditions of employment because of any lawful act done 20
178	178	by the employee to provide information, cause information 21
179	179	to be provided, or otherwise assist in an investigation re-22
180	180	garding any possible violation of Federal law or regulation, 23
181	181	or misconduct, by a judge, justice, or any other employee 24
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184	184	•HR 1811 IH
185	185	in the judicial branch, which may assist the Inspector Gen-1
186	186	eral in the performance of duties under this chapter. 2
187	187	‘‘(b) C
188	188	IVILACTION.—An employee injured by a viola-3
189	189	tion of subsection (a) may, in a civil action, obtain appro-4
190	190	priate relief.’’. 5
191	191	(b) T
192	192	ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 6
193	193	The table of chapters for part III of title 28, United States 7
194	194	Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 8
195	195	‘‘60. Inspector General for the judicial branch ...................................... 1021’’.
196	196	Æ
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