FEDERAL JUDICIARY HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY SEVENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON S. 1392 A BILL TO REORGANIZE THE JUDICIAL BRANCH 133066 PART 5 APRIL 5 TO 15, 1937 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1937 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HENRY F. ASHURST, Arizona, Chairman WILLIAM H. KING, Utah M. M. NEELY, West Virginia WILLIAM H. DIETERICH, Illinois TOM CONNALLY, Texas JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY, Wyoming JAMES H. HUGHES, Delaware WILLIAM E. BORAH, Idaho GEORGE W. NORRIS, Nebraska WARREN R. AUSTIN, Vermont FREDERICK STEIWER, Oregon REORGANIZATION OF THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY MONDAY, APRIL 5, 1937 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D. C. Pursuant to adjournment, the committee reconvened in the caucus room, 318 Senate Office Building, at 10:30 a. m., Senator Henry F. Ashurst (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Ashurst (chairman), King, Logan, McGill, Hatch, Connally, Burke, Hughes, Austin, and Steiwer. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. Senator AUSTIN. Mr. Chairman, I offer for the record a compilation of data made by the clerk of the Supreme Court, with an explanatory statement, for the purpose of showing at least one thing. The number of certiorari petitions dismissed, in which the Attorney General's department requested or consented to the dismissal. The offer is made to support the claim by me that the Attorney General ought not to criticize the Supreme Court for dismissing petitions for certiorari, when his report shows that on separating the petitions for certiorari in Government cases from those in non-Government cases, it appears that in all but about 10 percent of the cases in which the Government opposed certiorari the petitions were denied; that is, that in approximately 90 percent of the cases where the Attorney General urged it the petitions were granted. The CHAIRMAN. It is so ordered. (The data referred to are here set forth in full, as follows:) SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, OFFICE OF THE CLERK, Washington, D. C., March 31, 1937. Hon. WARREN R. AUSTIN, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: I regret that I could not more promptly submit to you statistics, in response to the request contained in your letter of the 24th instant, which would show the position of the Department of Justice as regards the selection of cases to be reviewed by this Court on petition for certiorari. The vast amount of publicity received by the Court recently has reflected upon my comparatively small organization, which must naturally have an open mind and endeavor to supply information impartially, to such an extent that we are unable to transact business with the degree of efficiency we normally attempt to maintain. Figures which were already available could not be used without rechecking and taking into consideration several elements which if not considered might subject one using them to criticism if not answerable knowingly. The figures contained in my check of the dockets for the terms for which data was requested coincide substantially with the figures used by the Solicitors General in their reports of the business of the Court appearing in the Annual Report of the Attorney General of the United States, and I therefore use their figures where possible. It is not accurate to count the number of cases on the docket wherein the Government was respondent, subtract the number of such cases wherein cer |