Sens. Cruz, Durbin, Lee Introduce Bipartisan Inspector General Access Act
Last year, the legislation passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 21-1
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today joined Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) in introducing bipartisan legislation to expand the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General to include alleged DOJ attorney misconduct. Currently, the DOJ Inspector General (IG) has no authority to investigate professional misconduct by DOJ lawyers. The DOJ is the only agency whose IG has such a jurisdictional carve-out. The Inspector General Access Act would simply strike this loophole, which leads to an unfair double standard where every DOJ employee - including FBI and DEA agents, U.S. Marshals, and federal prison guards - can be investigated by the DOJ IG except DOJ lawyers. Cosigners of this legislation include Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). Last Congress, the legislation was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 21-1 vote. Companion legislation passed the House of Representatives unanimously in 2019.
Upon introduction of this bill, Sen. Cruz said:
"I am proud to cosponsor this bipartisan bill to ensure DOJ lawyers are subject to the same professional oversight as all other federal employees. Removing this loophole ensures Americans can properly hold government officials - including the Attorney General - accountable. I have long fought to ensure the DOJ is not weaponized for political purposes, and I will continue to fight to preserve the independence of our judiciary."
Sen. Durbin said:
"This is a simple, bipartisan bill that would close a glaring loophole in the law. This is not a partisan issue. We should all agree that whoever the Attorney General is, he or she should be subject to independent oversight. I'm thankful to Senator Lee for his leadership and partnership on this important bill."
Sen. Lee added:
"Our federal government inspectors general do a valuable job providing the information voters and lawmakers need to hold federal government agencies accountable. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice OIG currently does not have the power to review the conduct of DOJ attorneys, an oversight that this legislation corrects."
BACKGROUND
The Inspector General Access Act solves the problems that have long prevented independent oversight of DOJ prosecutors by simply striking the jurisdictional carve out in ยง 8E of the Inspector General Act. As a result, DOJ's Inspector General would be fully empowered to investigate allegations of professional misconduct against Department lawyers. In addition to enhancing oversight and public accountability at DOJ, this simple, common sense reform will bring DOJ in line with the practices in other federal agencies where allegations of attorney professional misconduct are already subject to investigation by Inspectors General.
The bill is supported by a broad coalition of advocates from across the political spectrum, including American Civil Liberties Union, American Conservative Union, Americans for Prosperity, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Demand Progress, Due Process Institute, FreedomWorks, Government Accountability Project, Government Information Watch, Innocence Project, Justice Action Network, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Taxpayers Union, Open the Government, Protect Democracy, Project on Government Oversight (POGO), Public Citizen, R Street Institute, Right on Crime, and The Sentencing Project.
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