[Congressional Bills 113th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 4138 Introduced in House (IH)] 113th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4138 To protect the separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States by ensuring that the President takes care that the laws be faithfully executed, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 4, 2014 Mr. Gowdy (for himself, Mr. Issa, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Gerlach, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Jordan, Mr. Chaffetz, Mr. Collins of Georgia, Mr. Smith of Missouri, Mrs. Black, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, Mr. Labrador, and Mr. Bachus) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To protect the separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States by ensuring that the President takes care that the laws be faithfully executed, 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 Needs to Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enactments of the Law Act of 2014'' or the ``ENFORCE the Law Act of 2014''. SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION TO BRING CIVIL ACTION FOR VIOLATION OF THE TAKE CARE CLAUSE. (a) In General.--Upon the adoption of a resolution of a House of Congress declaring that the President, the head of any department or agency of the United States, or any other officer or employee of the United States has established or implemented a formal or informal policy, practice, or procedure to refrain from enforcing, applying, following, or administering any provision of a Federal statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law in violation of the requirement that the President take care that the laws be faithfully executed under article II, section 3, clause 5, of the Constitution of the United States, that House is authorized to bring a civil action in accordance with subsection (c), and to seek relief pursuant to sections 2201 and 2202 of title 28, United States Code. A civil action brought pursuant to this subsection may be brought by a single House or both Houses of Congress jointly, if both Houses have adopted such a resolution. (b) Resolution Described.--For the purposes of subsection (a), the term ``resolution'' means only a resolution-- (1) the title of which is as follows: ``Relating to the application of article II, section 3, clause 5, of the Constitution of the United States.''; (2) which does not have a preamble; and (3) the matter after the resolving clause which is as follows: ``That _______ has failed to meet the requirement of article II, section 3, clause 5, of the Constitution of the United States to take care that a law be faithfully executed, with respect to _________.'' (the blank spaces being appropriately filled in with the President or the person on behalf of the President, and the administrative action in question described in subsection (a), respectively). (c) Special Rules.--If the House of Representatives or the Senate brings a civil action pursuant to subsection (a), the following rules shall apply: (1) The action shall be filed in a United States district court of competent jurisdiction and shall be heard by a 3-judge court convened pursuant to section 2284 of title 28, United States Code. (2) A final decision in the action shall be reviewable only by appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United States. Such appeal shall be taken by the filing of a notice of appeal within 10 days, and the filing of a jurisdictional statement within 30 days, of the entry of the final decision. (3) It shall be the duty of the United States district courts and the Supreme Court of the United States to advance on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible extent the disposition of any such action and appeal. <all>