II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 60
To end the unconstitutional delegation of legislative power which was exclu-
sively vested in the Senate and House of Representatives by article
I, section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, and to direct
the Comptroller General of the United States to issue a report to Con-
gress detailing the extent of the problem of unconstitutional delegation
to the end that such delegations can be phased out, thereby restoring
the constitutional principle of separation of powers set forth in the
first sections of the Constitution of the United States.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. P
AULintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To end the unconstitutional delegation of legislative power
which was exclusively vested in the Senate and House
of Representatives by article I, section 1 of the Constitu-
tion of the United States, and to direct the Comptroller
General of the United States to issue a report to Con-
gress detailing the extent of the problem of unconstitu-
tional delegation to the end that such delegations can
be phased out, thereby restoring the constitutional prin-
ciple of separation of powers set forth in the first sec-
tions of the Constitution of the United States.
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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 ‘‘Write the Laws Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—This Act is enacted pursuant to 6
the powers conferred by the Constitution of the United 7
States upon Congress by— 8
(1) article I, section 1, which vests in Congress 9
all legislative powers granted under the Constitution; 10
and 11
(2) article I, section 8, clause 18, which vests 12
in Congress the power to make all laws that shall be 13
necessary and proper for executing the legislative 14
power granted to Congress in the Constitution. 15
(b) O
THERAUTHORITY.—This Act is also enacted to 16
bring the enforcement of Federal law into compliance with 17
the guarantee under the Fifth Amendment to the Con-18
stitution of the United States that no person be deprived 19
of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. 20
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 21
Congress finds the following: 22
(1) Article I, section 1 of the Constitution of 23
the United States vests the legislative powers enu-24
merated therein in Congress, consisting of a Senate 25
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and a House of Representatives, subject only to the 1
veto power of the President as provided in article I, 2
section 7, clause 2. 3
(2) Article II, section 1 of the Constitution of 4
the United States vests the Executive power of the 5
United States in a President. 6
(3) Article III, section 1 of the Constitution of 7
the United States vests the judicial power of the 8
United States in ‘‘one supreme Court, and in such 9
inferior courts as the Congress may from time to 10
time ordain and establish’’, subject only to the juris-11
dictional limitations set forth in article III, section 12
2. 13
(4) As the Supreme Court of the United States 14
has stated, ‘‘In the main, [the Constitution of the 15
United States] has blocked out with singular preci-16
sion, and in bold lines, in its three primary Articles, 17
the allotment of power to the executive, the legisla-18
tive, and judicial departments of the government 19
[and] the powers confided by the Constitution to one 20
of these departments cannot be exercised by an-21
other.’’. Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 191 22
(1881). 23
(5) ‘‘It is . . . essential to the successful work-24
ing of this system, that the persons entrusted with 25
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power in any one of these branches shall not be per-1
mitted to encroach upon the powers confided to oth-2
ers, but that each shall by the law of its creation be 3
limited to the exercise of the powers . . . of its own 4
department and no other.’’. Id. 5
(6) ‘‘The increase in the number of States, in 6
their population and wealth, and in the amount of 7
power . . . [has] present[ed] powerful and growing 8
temptations to those to whom that exercise is 9
intrusted, to overstep the just boundaries of their 10
own department, and enter upon the domain of one 11
of the others, or to assume powers not intrusted to 12
either of them.’’. Id. at 191–192. 13
(7) Succumbing to these ‘‘powerful and grow-14
ing’’ temptations, and beginning in the late nine-15
teenth century with the Interstate Commerce Com-16
mission and continuing to the present time, Con-17
gress has unconstitutionally created numerous ad-18
ministrative agencies with blended powers, namely— 19
(A) the exercise of legislative power vested 20
by the Constitution of the United States in 21
Congress; 22
(B) the exercise of Executive power vested 23
by the Constitution of the United States in the 24
President; and 25
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(C) the exercise of judicial power vested by 1
the Constitution of the United States in the Su-2
preme Court and lower Federal courts. 3
(8) By delegating legislative, executive, and ju-4
dicial power to the various administrative agencies, 5
Congress has departed from the separation of pow-6
ers structure of the Constitution of the United 7
States, and ignored the warning of the framers of 8
that instrument that ‘‘The accumulation of all pow-9
ers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same 10
hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether 11
hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be 12
pronounced the very definition of tyranny.’’. James 13
Madison, The Federalist No. 47. 14
(9) Further, by delegating legislative, executive, 15
and judicial powers to various administrative agen-16
cies, Congress has unconstitutionally established a 17
Star Chamber-like system of rules promulgated, exe-18
cuted, and adjudicated by administrative agencies 19
that are functionally a part of the Executive branch 20
of the Federal Government in violation of the due 21
process guarantee of the Fifth Amendment to the 22
Constitution of the United States. 23
(10) By the very nature of legislative power, 24
and by the express terms of article I, section 1 of 25
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the Constitution of the United States, Congress may 1
not delegate any legislative power to any other 2
branch of the Federal Government or other entity, 3
including any administrative agency. As Chief Jus-4
tice John Marshall stated: ‘‘It will not be contended 5
that congress can delegate to the courts, or to any 6
other tribunals, powers which are strictly and exclu-7
sively legislative.’’. Wayman v. Southard, 10 Wheat. 8
(23 U.S.) 1, 42 (1825). 9
(11) As Chief Justice Melville Fuller explained, 10
a ‘‘criminal offense’’ created or clarified by an agen-11
cy in the Executive branch is not valid unless the of-12
fense ‘‘is fully and completely defined by the act’’ of 13
Congress. In re Kollock, 165 U.S. 526, 533 (1897). 14
(12) By vesting legislative power in the Con-15
gress, the Constitution requires the Senate and the 16
House of Representatives to enact statutes con-17
taining general rules to be executed by the Presi-18
dent, as provided in article II, section 1 of the Con-19
stitution of the United States, and to be adjudicated 20
in a case or controversy by such inferior courts as 21
Congress may from time to time establish, or in the 22
Supreme Court, as provided in article III, sections 23
1 and 2. 24
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(13) By abdicating its constitutional legislative 1
responsibility to write the laws whereby the people 2
are governed, and having unconstitutionally dele-3
gated that power to unelected bureaucrats, Congress 4
has undermined the constitutional protections of— 5
(A) the checks and balances of a bicameral 6
legislative body; and 7
(B) a Presidential veto. 8
(14) As a direct consequence of Congress hav-9
ing abdicated its responsibility to properly exercise 10
the legislative power vested by the Constitution of 11
the United States, Congress has— 12
(A) imposed onerous and unreasonable 13
burdens upon the American people; and 14
(B) violated the constitutional principle of 15
the separation of the legislative, executive, and 16
judicial processes and functions. 17
SEC. 4. RESTORING THE SEPARATION OF POWERS. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Title 1 of the United States Code, 19
is amended by inserting after chapter 2 the following: 20
‘‘CHAPTER 2A—SEPARATION OF POWERS 21
‘‘Sec.
‘‘151. Nondelegation of legislative power.
‘‘152. Enforcement clause.
‘‘153. Effective date.
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‘‘§ 151. Nondelegation of legislative power 1
‘‘(a) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘delega-2
tion of legislative powers’— 3
‘‘(1) includes— 4
‘‘(A) the creation or clarification of any 5
criminal or civil offense; and 6
‘‘(B) the creation or clarification of any 7
non-criminal regulation, prohibition, or limita-8
tion applicable to the public, or some subset 9
thereof, that is not fully and completely defined 10
in an Act of Congress, except that the Execu-11
tive branch of Government may be delegated 12
authority to make factual findings that will de-13
termine the date upon which such an Act is im-14
plemented, suspended, or revived; and 15
‘‘(2) does not include the issuance of any Presi-16
dential proclamation, or the issuance of any rule or 17
regulation governing the internal operation of any 18
agency, or conditions made upon grants or contracts 19
issued by any agency. 20
‘‘(b) P
ROHIBITION.—An Act of Congress may not 21
contain any delegation of legislative powers, whether to— 22
‘‘(1) any component within the legislative 23
branch of the Federal Government; 24
‘‘(2) the President or any other member of the 25
Executive branch of the Federal Government; 26
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‘‘(3) the judicial branch of the Federal Govern-1
ment; 2
‘‘(4) any agency; 3
‘‘(5) any quasi-public agency; 4
‘‘(6) any State or instrumentality thereof; or 5
‘‘(7) any other organization or individual. 6
‘‘(c) E
XECUTIVEACTIONS.—No new Presidential di-7
rective, adjudicative decision, rule, or regulation, or 8
change to an existing Presidential directive, adjudicative 9
decision, rule, or regulation governing, limiting, imposing 10
a penalty on, or otherwise regulating any activity of any 11
individual or entity, other than an officer or employee of 12
the Federal Government, may be promulgated or put into 13
effect, unless the directive, decision, rule, or regulation is 14
authorized by an Act of Congress that complies with sub-15
section (b). 16
‘‘(d) R
EPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the 17
date of enactment of this chapter, the Comptroller General 18
of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 19
identifying all statutes enacted before the date that is 90 20
days after the date of enactment of this chapter which 21
contain any delegation of legislative powers prohibited 22
under this section. 23
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‘‘§ 152. Enforcement clause 1
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—An Act of Congress, Presidential 2
directive, adjudicative decision, rule, or regulation that 3
does not comply with section 151 shall have no force or 4
effect and no legal, equitable, regulatory, civil, or criminal 5
action may be brought under such an Act of Congress, 6
Presidential directive, adjudicative decision, rule, or regu-7
lation. 8
‘‘(b) C
AUSE OFACTION.—Any person aggrieved by 9
any action of any officer or employee in the Executive 10
branch of the Federal Government under any Act of Con-11
gress that does not comply with section 151 may bring 12
a cause of action under sections 2201 and 2202 of title 13
28 against the United States to seek appropriate relief, 14
including an injunction against enforcement of any Act of 15
Congress, Presidential directive, adjudicative decision, 16
rule, or regulation that does not comply with section 151. 17
‘‘(c) S
TANDARD OFREVIEW.—In any action brought 18
under subsection (b), the standard of review shall be de 19
novo. 20
‘‘§ 153. Effective date 21
‘‘This chapter shall apply to any Act of Congress, 22
Presidential directive, adjudicative decision, rule, or regu-23
lation, or change to an existing Presidential directive, ad-24
judicative decision, rule, or regulation, enacted or promul-25
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gated on or after the date that is 90 days after the date 1
of enactment of this chapter.’’. 2
(b) T
ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 3
The table of chapters for title 1, United States Code, is 4
amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 5
2 the following: 6
‘‘2A. Separation of powers...........................................................151’’.
SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
7
If any provision of this Act or an amendment made 8
by this Act, or the application of a provision or amend-9
ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid 10
for any reason in any court of competent jurisdiction, the 11
remainder of this Act and amendments made by this Act, 12
and the application of the provisions and amendment to 13
any other person or circumstance, shall not be affected. 14
Æ
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