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Judiciary Committee approves bill to limit indefinite nondisclosure orders and require judicial findings
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Summary
The committee favorably reported H.R. 6048, the NDO Fairness Act, which would require judges to certify specific harms before approving non‑disclosure orders and generally limit secrecy orders to 90 days with narrow renewals.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced H.R. 6048, known in the markup as the NDO Fairness Act, which aims to tighten standards for nondisclosure orders (NDOs) used when prosecutors compel cloud providers and carriers not to notify account holders of searches. Sponsors argued the bill curbs a "rubber stamp" practice by requiring courts to certify that disclosure would likely result in destruction of evidence, danger to an individual, or other specific harms, and by imposing a 90‑day limit on NDOs with narrowly drawn renewal criteria.
Rep. Fitzgerald, a sponsor, described the bill as a bipartisan effort to align secrecy orders with existing "sneak and peek" statutory safeguards and to prevent indefinite secrecy. "This brings the NDO approval process in line with sneak and peak searches," he said in his opening remarks.
Ranking members and witnesses noted exceptions for urgent cases (for example, child‑exploitation or national‑security matters) and stressed judicial scrutiny and written findings as central to the reform. Committee members also debated a separate Senate provision mentioned in the record (a payment provision tied to subpoenas on senators) and entered objections and unanimous‑consent material into the record; nevertheless, the committee adopted amendments and ordered the bill reported favorably to the House.
The markup record includes detailed statements and a roll call; staff were authorized to make technical conforming changes and members were given two days to submit views for the committee report.
