[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 702 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 702

 To amend section 372 of title 28, United States Code, to provide that 
 proceedings on complaints filed with respect to conduct of a judge or 
magistrate judge of a court be held by a circuit other than the circuit 
         within which the judge serves, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 1997

Mr. Bryant  (for himself, Mr. Barr of Georgia, Mr. Bono, Mr. Canady of 
Florida, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Hostettler, Mr. McCollum, Mr. Schumer, Mr. 
   Sensenbrenner, Mr. Smith of Texas, and Mr. Duncan) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend section 372 of title 28, United States Code, to provide that 
 proceedings on complaints filed with respect to conduct of a judge or 
magistrate judge of a court be held by a circuit other than the circuit 
         within which the judge serves, 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 ``Judicial Disciplinary Proceedings 
Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. PROCEEDINGS ON COMPLAINTS AGAINST JUDICIAL CONDUCT.

    Section 372(c) of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(c)(1)''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following: ``In the 
                case of a complaint so identified, the chief judge 
                shall notify the clerk of the court of appeals of the 
                complaint, together with a brief statement of the facts 
                underlying the complaint.
    ``(B) Complaints filed under subparagraph (A) in one judicial 
circuit will be referred to another judicial circuit for proceedings 
under this subsection, in accordance with a system established by rule 
by the Judicial Conference, which prescribes the circuits to which the 
complaints will be referred. The Judicial Conference shall establish 
and submit to the Congress the system described in the preceding 
sentence not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
this subparagraph.'';
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by amending the first sentence to read as 
                follows: ``Upon receipt of a complaint filed or notice 
                of a complaint identified under paragraph (1) of this 
                subsection, the clerk shall promptly transmit such 
                complaint or (in the case of a complaint identified 
                under paragraph (1)) the statement of facts underlying 
                the complaint to the chief judge of the circuit 
                assigned to conduct proceedings on the complaint in 
                accordance with the system established under paragraph 
                (1)(B) (hereafter in this subsection referred to as the 
                `chief judge').''; and
                    (B) in the second sentence by inserting ``or 
                statement of facts underlying the complaint (as the 
                case may be)'' after ``copy of the complaint'';
            (3) in paragraph (4)(A) by inserting ``(to which the 
        complaint or statement of facts underlying the complaint is 
        referred)'' after ``the circuit'';
            (4) in paragraph (5)--
                    (A) in the first sentence by inserting ``to which 
                the complaint or statement of facts underlying the 
                complaint is referred'' after ``the circuit''; and
                    (B) in the second sentence by striking ``the 
                circuit'' and inserting ``that circuit'';
            (5) in the first sentence of paragraph (15) by inserting 
        before the period at the end the following: ``in which the 
        complaint was filed or identified under paragraph (1)''; and
            (6) by amending paragraph (18) to read as follows:
    ``(18) The Judicial Conference shall prescribe rules, consistent 
with the preceding provisions of this subsection--
            ``(A) establishing procedures for the filing of complaints 
        with respect to the conduct of any judge of the United States 
        Court of Federal Claims, the Court of International Trade, or 
        the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and for the 
        investigation and resolution of such complaints; and
            ``(B) establishing a system for referring complaints filed 
        with respect to the conduct of a judge of any such court to any 
        of the first eleven judicial circuits or to another court for 
        investigation and resolution.
The Judicial Conference shall establish and submit to the Congress the 
system described in subparagraph (B) not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of the Judicial Disciplinary Proceedings Act of 
1997.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act apply to complaints filed on or 
after the 180th day after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>