Reading Room Document

Proposed Commission on Deregulation of International Ocean Shipping

Individuals who serve on a purely advisory Commission on the Deregulation of International Ocean Shipping need not be officers of the United States. Appointment of Members of Congress to such a Commission does not implicate the Incompatibility Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 6, cl. 2. A provision authorizing the congressional leadership to make recommendations for appointments to the Commission does not limit the President's ultimate responsibility for such appointments. The proposed Commission may not hold a witness in contempt for failure to comply with a Commission subpoena or to testify. Rather, the Commission should be required to seek a court order compelling compliance. 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/23576/download.

December 21, 1983