On the recordOctober 25, 2017
I do appreciate the gentleman bringing in the Meese memo. We discussed this earlier that if we actually went back to the actual intent of the Meese memo which said the Attorney General would be the part, we could probably agree on that. But let's get some things straight. There has been nothing codified. This is a regulation. It has not been codified. Codification would have to come from actual legislation passed by this body, and it is not. The amendment would seek to carve out of the bill consent decrees and settlements entered into under Department of Justice regulations ostensibly written to implement this Meese memo. The Meese memo was a Reagan-era Department policy, issued by Attorney General Meese, that prohibited the Department from entering into specified categories of decrees or settlements--particularly those that allowed the judiciary, through judicial orders, from invading the constitutionally exclusive authority of the executive branch. Current regulations, however, require less scrutiny by, and less accountability for, such consent decrees on the part of the Attorney General. What we need is not less Department of Justice accountability for backroom deals that trespass constitutional lines of authority, but more accountability. The bill would restore full accountability consistent with the letter and the spirit of the Meese memo itself.…
