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HR 7491 · in committee · major

Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act

What this bill does

  • The bill prohibits the Department of Justice from monitoring electronic communications between incarcerated people and their lawyers.
  • Incarcerated people and their legal representatives are affected by this protection of attorney-client privilege.
  • The bill takes effect upon enactment with no new funding required.

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Community Threads

Started by Cosponsor

  1. 01

    How should courts balance protecting attorney-client confidentiality for incarcerated people against law enforcement concerns about monitoring communications for security purposes?

  2. 02

    What evidence exists that current DOJ monitoring of inmate-lawyer communications has compromised legal defense or violated privilege, and what would change under this bill?

  3. 03

    Which parties—incarcerated individuals, correctional facilities, the DOJ, or defense attorneys—would be most significantly affected by prohibiting electronic communication monitoring?

Cosponsor writes these to seed civic discussion — they aren't user posts. Sign in to reply.

Sponsor · D-PA-4

Madeleine Dean

Citizen cosponsors

0

In Congress

3/ 435

House Reps cosponsoring

Introduced 2026-02-11

Joining the bill

Legislative timeline

  1. 2026-02-11 · house · IntroReferral

    Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

  2. 2026-02-11 · IntroReferral

    Introduced in House

  3. 2026-02-11 · IntroReferral

    Introduced in House

Congress.gov ↗

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