[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 432 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                          May 21, 1998.
Whereas a unanimous Supreme Court held in United States v. Nixon that ``[a]bsent 
        a claim of need to protect military, diplomatic, or sensitive national 
        security secrets, we find it difficult to accept the argument that even 
        the very important interest in confidentiality of Presidential 
        communications is significantly diminished by production of such 
        material'' that is essential to the enforcement of criminal statutes 
        (418 U.S. 683, 706 (1974));
Whereas during the Watergate investigation, the Supreme Court unanimously held 
        in United States v. Nixon that the judicial need for the tapes of 
        President Nixon ``shown by a demonstrated, specific need for evidence in 
        a pending criminal trial'' outweighed the President's ``generalized 
        interest in confidentiality * * *'' (418 U.S. 683, 713 (1974));
Whereas the Supreme Court further held in United States v. Nixon that ``neither 
        the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality 
        of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, 
        unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process 
        under all circumstances'' (418 U.S. 683, 706 (1974));
Whereas executive privilege is qualified, not absolute, and should ``never serve 
        as a means of shielding information regarding governmental operations 
        that do not call ultimately for direct decisionmaking by the President'' 
        (In re Sealed Case, 116 F.3d 550 (D.C. Cir. 1997), reissued in 
        unredacted form, 121 F.3d 729, 752 (D.C. Cir. 1997));
Whereas on September 28, 1994, Special Counsel to the President Lloyd N. Cutler, 
        in a memorandum to the general counsels of all executive departments and 
        agencies, wrote, ``[i]n circumstances involving communications relating 
        to investigations of personal wrongdoing by Government officials, it is 
        our practice not to assert executive privilege, either in judicial 
        proceedings or in congressional investigations and hearings'';
Whereas President Clinton is the first President since President Nixon (and the 
        second in the history of the United States) to withhold information, 
        under claims of executive privilege, from a grand jury investigating 
        allegations of personal wrongdoing and possible crimes in the White 
        House;
Whereas the President's assertions of executive privilege have recently been 
        denied by a United States district court;
Whereas in January 1998, President Clinton said that the ``American people have 
        a right to get answers'' regarding certain matters being investigated by 
        the Office of the Independent Counsel;
Whereas President Clinton has promised to give ``as many answers as we can, as 
        soon as we can, at the appropriate time, consistent with our obligation 
        to also cooperate with the investigations''; and
Whereas the people of the United States and their duly elected representatives 
        have a right to judge for themselves the merits or demerits of the 
        President's claim of executive privilege: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that, in the 
interests of full disclosure consistent with principles of openness in 
governmental operations, all records or documents (including legal memoranda, 
briefs, and motions) relating to any claims of executive privilege asserted by 
the President should be immediately made publicly available.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.