28 U.S.C. § 596 — Removal of an independent counsel; termination of office
submitted 48 years ago by Pub. L. 95-521 to r/title-28-JUDICIARY-AND-JUDICIAL-PROCEDURE · 718 words · no verdicts yet
This section explains when an independent counsel may be removed, how the office ends, and how the counsel’s spending is reviewed.
(a) Removal; report on removal.
(1) Grounds for removal. The Attorney General alone may remove an independent counsel, except through impeachment and conviction, and only for good cause, physical or mental disability (unless a law protecting people from disability discrimination forbids removal for that reason), or another condition that substantially prevents the counsel from doing the job.
(2) Report. After removing an independent counsel, the Attorney General must promptly send the court division and the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and House a report stating the facts found and the final reasons for removal. Each committee must make the report public, but may delay or withhold all or part of it when needed to protect a named person’s rights or avoid improper interference with a pending prosecution. The court division may release all or part of the report as section 594(h)(2) allows.
(3) Court review. A removed independent counsel may ask the United States District Court* for the District* of Columbia to review the removal in a civil case. No member of the court division may hear or decide that case or an appeal from it. The court may order reinstatement or other suitable relief.
(b) Ending the office.
(1) By the independent counsel. The office ends when (A) the counsel tells the Attorney General that all matters within the counsel’s prosecutorial jurisdiction, or accepted under section 594(e), and resulting prosecutions are finished or far enough along that the Department* of Justice should finish them; and (B) the counsel files the final report required by section 594(h)(1)(B).
(2) By the court division. On its own or at the Attorney General’s request, the court division may end the office at any time when those investigations and prosecutions are finished or far enough along for the Department of Justice to finish them. At that time the counsel must file the required final report. If the Attorney General did not request termination, the court division must consider termination on its own no later than 2 years after appointment, at the end of the next 2-year period, and at the end of each later 1-year period.
(c) Audits.
(1) By June 30 each year, the counsel must prepare spending figures for the 6 months ending the previous March 31. By December 31 each year, the counsel must prepare spending figures for the fiscal year ending the previous September 30. If the office ends before the fiscal year ends, the counsel must prepare spending figures within 90 days after termination.
(2) The Comptroller General must (A) review a midyear statement and audit a year-end or termination statement, and (B) report the results within 90 days after each statement is submitted to the listed Senate and House Judiciary, governmental-affairs or government-operations, and Appropriations Committees.
An independent counsel appointed under this chapter may be removed from office, other than by impeachment and conviction, only by the personal action of the Attorney General and only for good cause, physical or mental disability (if not prohibited by law protecting persons from discrimination on the basis of such a disability),,1 or any other condition that substantially impairs the performance of such independent counsel’s duties.
If an independent counsel is removed from office, the Attorney General shall promptly submit to the division of the court and the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report specifying the facts found and the ultimate grounds for such removal. The committees shall make available to the public such report, except that each committee may, if necessary to protect the rights of any individual named in the report or to prevent undue interference with any pending prosecution, postpone or refrain from publishing any or all of the report. The division of the court may release any or all of such report in accordance with section 594(h)(2).
An independent counsel removed from office may obtain judicial review of the removal in a civil action commenced in the United States District Court* for the District* of Columbia. A member of the division of the court may not hear or determine any such civil action or any appeal of a decision in any such civil action. The independent counsel may be reinstated or granted other appropriate relief by order of the court.
An office of independent counsel shall terminate when—
the independent counsel notifies the Attorney General that the investigation of all matters within the prosecutorial jurisdiction of such independent counsel or accepted by such independent counsel under section 594(e), and any resulting prosecutions, have been completed or so substantially completed that it would be appropriate for the Department* of Justice to complete such investigations and prosecutions; and
the independent counsel files a final report in compliance with section 594(h)(1)(B).
The division of the court, either on its own motion or upon the request of the Attorney General, may terminate an office of independent counsel at any time, on the ground that the investigation of all matters within the prosecutorial jurisdiction of such independent counsel or accepted by such independent counsel under section 594(e), and any resulting prosecutions, have been completed or so substantially completed that it would be appropriate for the Department of Justice to complete such investigations and prosecutions. At the time of such termination, the independent counsel shall file the final report required by section 594(h)(1)(B). If the Attorney General has not made a request under this paragraph, the division of the court shall determine on its own motion whether termination is appropriate under this paragraph no later than 2 years after the appointment of an independent counsel, at the end of the succeeding 2-year period, and thereafter at the end of each succeeding 1-year period.
On or before June 30 of each year, an independent counsel shall prepare a statement of expenditures for the 6 months that ended on the immediately preceding March 31. On or before December 31 of each year, an independent counsel shall prepare a statement of expenditures for the fiscal year that ended on the immediately preceding September 30. An independent counsel whose office is terminated prior to the end of the fiscal year shall prepare a statement of expenditures on or before the date that is 90 days after the date on which the office is terminated.
The Comptroller General shall—
conduct a financial review of a mid-year statement and a financial audit of a year-end statement and statement on termination; and
report the results to the Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on Governmental Affairs, and Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on Government Operations, and Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives not later than 90 days following the submission of each such statement.
Source credit: (Added Pub. L. 95–521, title VI, § 601(a), Oct. 26, 1978, 92 Stat. 1872; amended Pub. L. 97–409, §§ 2(a)(1), 6(d), Jan. 3, 1983, 96 Stat. 2039, 2042; Pub. L. 98–620, title IV, § 402(29)(A), Nov. 8, 1984, 98 Stat. 3359; Pub. L. 100–191, § 2, Dec. 15, 1987, 101 Stat. 1304; Pub. L. 103–270, §§ 3(h), (i), 5, June 30, 1994, 108 Stat. 735, 737.)
- 1978Enacted · Pub. L. 95-521 · 92 Stat. 1872
- 1983Amended · Pub. L. 97-409 · 96 Stat. 2039, 2042
- 1984Amended · Pub. L. 98-620 · 98 Stat. 3359
- 1987Amended · Pub. L. 100-191 · 101 Stat. 1304
- 1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-270 · 108 Stat. 735, 737
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 95-521 on 1978-10-26.
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