[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4958 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4958

  To amend title 3 of the United States Code to provide immunity from 
  suit for the President of the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 12, 1994

   Mr. Rose introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 3 of the United States Code to provide immunity from 
  suit for the President of the United States, 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 ``Presidential Immunity Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL SUIT.

    (a) In General.--Title 3, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:

                 ``CHAPTER 5--IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL SUIT

``Sec.
``501. Immunity generally.
``502. Recovery of attorneys' fee.
``503. Sanctions for improper suit.
``Sec. 501. Immunity generally
    ``The President shall be immune from all civil suit, in whatsoever 
court, seeking money damages, during the period that begins when the 
President takes office and ends 180 days after the President leaves 
office. None of the time during any period in which the President is 
immune from suit by reason of this section shall be counted as part of 
any period of statutory or other limitations on the later commencement 
of such a suit.
``Sec. 502. Recovery of attorneys' fees
    ``If an individual who is President or a former President--
            ``(1) obtains the dismissal of a civil suit by reason of 
        section 501; or
            ``(2) otherwise prevails in any civil suit, in whatsoever 
        court, seeking money damages based on a cause of action arising 
        before or during that individual's term as President;
the Secretary of the Treasury shall reimburse such individual for 
reasonable attorneys' fees and other costs that such individual is 
liable for in connection with such suit.
``Sec. 503. Sanctions for improper suit
    ``Any court in which a civil suit seeking money damages is 
commenced against a former President, based on a cause of action 
arising before or during such former President's term as President, may 
impose upon a party or that party's attorney appropriate sanctions, 
including an order to reimburse the Secretary of the Treasury for 
payments made under section 502, if the court determines the suit--
            ``(1) is not well grounded in fact;
            ``(2) is not warranted by existing law or by a good faith 
        argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of 
        existing law; or
            ``(3) is interposed for an improper purpose, such as to 
        harass or embarrass the former President.''
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of chapters at the beginning of 
title 3, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following new item:


``5. Immunity from civil suit...............................     501''.
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