Reading Room Document

Committee Approval Provision in the Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration Bill

The provision in the Simpson-Mazzoli immigration bill, which gives the House and Senate Judiciary Committees power to dispense with certain otherwise applicable statutory requirements for an employment eligibility system, is unconstitutional, whether viewed as allowing a congressional committee to exercise delegated executive power, or as authorizing a legislative act without the necessary requirements of bicameralism and presentation to the President. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23091/download.

July 15, 1982