From Sen. Feingold's press release:
This bill represents an important step toward curbing secret law and restoring the balance of power between the White House and Congress.With the current House session scheduled to end on September 26, and a lame duck session after the November election highly unlikely, Feingold and Miller's bill probably won't move until next year.
The OLC Reporting Act would:
• Require the Attorney General to notify Congress within 30 days when the Justice Department issues a legal opinion that:
◦concludes that a federal statute is unconstitutional;
◦relies on the “doctrine of constitutional avoidance,” a doctrine used by Yoo and his colleagues to justify strained interpretations of the law;
◦relies on other interpretive tools to avoid applying the law to the executive branch; or
◦decides that a federal law has been repealed by a later statute, when the later statute does not say so explicitly.
• Retain existing statutory protections for privileged information, while ensuring that Congress receives the information necessary to perform its legislative and oversight functions.
• Protect national security through special procedures for the submission of classified information.
