The Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering decentralizing authority from the public integrity section, which handles cases against public officials.

A DOJ official confirmed provisions of the Justice Manual relating to several sections of the department are under review but told the Daily Caller News Foundation a final decision about the public integrity section (PIN) has not been made. Political law attorneys and former federal prosecutors who spoke with the DCNF had mixed views on whether modifying the PIN’s role would be beneficial.

“The point of the review is to ensure that equal responsibility is held in the field at U.S. Attorney’s Offices as opposed to centralizing all authority in PIN,” the official said.

The Washington Post first reported May 17, citing people familiar with the proposal, that the DOJ may be eliminating a requirement for U.S. Attorneys to route prosecutions of members of Congress through PIN. The section was created amid Watergate in 1976 to handle allegations of misconduct against public officials.