Independent Counsel Reform Act of 2003

Independent Counsel Reform Act of 2003 - Rewrites the Independent Counsel (IC) statute to: (1) limit application of the statute to the President, Vice President, Level I positions of the Executive Schedule (Cabinet members, the Commissioner of Social Security, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board), and the President's Chief of Staff; (2) expand to 120 days the period of time in which the Attorney General must conduct a preliminary investigation; (3) authorize the Attorney General to convene grand juries and issue subpoenas in a preliminary investigation; (4) heighten the evidentiary threshold for seeking appointment of an IC from "reasonable" to "substantial" grounds; (5) require the IC to serve on a full-time basis; (6) limit the scope of inquiry to matters "directly" related to the IC's prosecutorial jurisdiction; (7) delete provisions authorizing expansion of the IC's prosecutorial jurisdiction; (8) require the IC to submit a budget for each year to the Attorney General and the General Accounting Office; (9) require the courts of the United States to expedite consideration and review of matters relating to an IC's investigation and prosecution; (10) delete the requirement directing an IC to advise the House of Representatives of any information that may support impeachment; and (11) terminate an IC's term at the end of two years after appointment, with the possibility of an extension for good cause or to compensate for dilatory tactics.

Amends the Federal judicial code to: (1) extend to three years the period of service of judges assigned to the division of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that appoints ICs; and (2) require the Chief Justice to assign three judges for such division by a lottery of all circuit court judges.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov