DISCUSSION DRAFT · NOT OFFICIAL TEXT
This is a working constitutional design for public debate, legal critique and adversarial review. It is not enacted law, official government text or legal advice.
No consequential Citizen Branch power should appear without its jurisdictional boundary, rights protection, reviewing institution or accountability duty close enough to be read with it.
A Citizen Branch of the United States is established as an independent branch of the Federal Government for public accountability, lawful investigation of entrusted public power, civic independence, disclosure, audit and public traceability, subject to this article and laws consistent with it.
The governing body shall be an Assembly of the People selected under neutral and broadly representative procedures prescribed by law. Members shall complete a neutral civic course before exercising authority and shall be subject to disclosure, conflict, recusal, ethics, removal and rotation requirements.
The Branch shall maintain distinct functions for the Citizen Investigations Bureau, National Civic Independence, and Public Accountability & Access. Coercive investigative authority shall remain structurally separated from ordinary civic analysis, public education and electoral-system research.
Within jurisdiction fixed by this article and implementing law, the Citizen Investigations Bureau may investigate, preserve evidence, obtain records and testimony through lawful process, publish findings and make referrals. Compulsory process shall be particularized, challengeable, documented and subject to judicial enforcement or review as provided by law. The Branch shall possess no general power to arrest, prosecute, sentence, enact ordinary legislation, command executive operations or adjudicate criminal guilt or civil liability.
The Branch shall not conduct bulk domestic surveillance or generalized intelligence collection on the people of the United States. Access to U.S.-person information shall be targeted, lawful, relevant to defined jurisdiction and subject to constitutional rights, privileges, minimization and review. Lawful classification shall protect legitimate secrets but shall not itself create immunity from lawful oversight; publication shall protect information the Constitution or law properly keeps secret.
No officer of another branch may direct the opening or closing of a particular investigation, dictate a factual finding, suppress a lawful finding or command a referral disposition. Nothing in this section eliminates judicial review, constitutional rights, lawful appropriations, generally applicable legislation, impeachment or other checks consistent with the independence guaranteed by this article.
The Branch shall maintain public ethics rules, external financial audit, performance reporting, correction procedures, records-preservation duties, a process for allegations of misconduct within the Branch, and judicially reviewable actions where required by law. Classification and confidentiality may protect lawful secrets, not institutional misconduct.
After the first full fiscal year of operation, the total annual budget authorized for the Citizen Branch shall not exceed one hundred ten percent of the total budget authorized for the immediately preceding fiscal year. Appropriations may not be conditioned on the outcome, opening or closing of a named investigation in a manner inconsistent with this article.
Congress shall provide strict rules preventing members, officers and employees from converting Branch authority, confidential information, internal relationships, official title or institutional prestige into partisan campaign power or private influence. Former Assembly members shall remain bound by post-service restrictions sufficient to protect public trust and confidential information.
Congress may enact laws necessary and proper to implement this article consistent with its guarantees of independence and limitation. A statutory Citizen Investigations Bureau may be transitioned into the constitutional Branch, with lawful records, personnel, pending matters, duties and obligations transferred under rules protecting rights and continuity.
ARTICLE V
Under Article V, an amendment may be proposed by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress or by a convention called on the applications of two-thirds of state legislatures. It becomes part of the Constitution only after ratification by three-fourths of the states through the mode Congress specifies. The President has no constitutionally assigned approval role in proposing an amendment.
PRIMARY SOURCES · CURRENT U.S. LAW
constitution.congress.gov · Congressional investigative and oversight powersgao.gov · About the U.S. Government Accountability Officeuscode.house.gov · Inspector General Act provisions, 5 U.S.C. Chapter 4justice.gov · DOJ Freedom of Information Act Reference GuideSource note: These links describe current institutions and current law. Citizen Branch language on this site describes a proposal.
constitution.congress.gov · Article V amendment processREQUIRED BEFORE ANY REAL PROPOSAL
This discussion draft should be challenged by constitutional scholars, civil-liberties advocates, national-security lawyers, Inspectors General, prosecutors, defense counsel, appropriations experts, privacy specialists, federalism experts and people who oppose the institution entirely. Weaknesses found before adoption are design work, not disloyalty.