Ranking members of committees hold unique and important roles in government and congressional leadership, as well as the general oversight structure. However, in 2017, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a guidance memorandum stating that there are only three entities to which the Executive Branch has the duty to reply: a House of Congress in its entirety, a committee or subcommittee of jurisdiction, or an aforementioned committee or subcommittee’s chair. Under this guidance, then, the ranking member of a committee of jurisdiction holds the same authority to investigate and oversee Executive Branch agencies as general members of Congress: none.

This Note proposes an alternative standard under what I have termed the “demand-request distinction:” that the Executive Branch should recognize and respond to inquiries from ranking members in the same way it does demands from committee chairs. This standard preserves the prioritization of inquiries which serve a broader body of Congress and ensures that the requirements of Watkins v. United States are satisfied. It also reflects the historical intent of constitutional separation of powers and the history and precedent of actions taken by each branch of government when determining questions related to congressional oversight.

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