PLAYING HOKUS WITH APPOINTMENTS

Playing Hokus With Appointments PRESIDENT COOLIDGE'S persistent oversight of his Constitutional obligation to appoint public officials "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate," is again...

...We only asked the President o select some outstanding lawyer...
...President Coolidge's insistence on the appointment of Thomas F. Woodlock to the Interstate Commerce Commission was of the same reprehensible nature as his course in the matter of the Tilson and Warren appointments...
...But after the Senate adjourned, President Coolidge gave Mr...
...Many times it has been pointed out on the pages of this Magazine that the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Tariff Commission—quasi-judicial bodies like the courts intended to perform their duties impartially, independent of political influence or outside pressure of any nature —are being converted under President Coolidge's policy of appointment to the service of organized wealth, from whose excessive greed and .power they were created to protect the public...
...On March 9th last, five days after Congress had adjourned, President Coolidge gives Mr...
...In face of proof established by court records of Warren's connection with the Sugar Trust which was a party to the conspirr acy to rob farmers and stock-raisers in the sale of beet sugar pulp, President Coolidge did all in his power to secure the necessary votes for Warren's confirmation...
...but taking full part as a member of the Commission, exercising his influence and his vote in the decision of public questions of vital interest to the pufclic...
...When Congress convened, public hearings were held on Mr...
...This is the third time President Coolidge has appointed Mr...
...If there had been enough OldGuard votes in the 69th Congress to cnfirm Mr...
...From Judge McCammant, whom Mr...
...Tilson's confirmation, President Coolidge withdrew the nomination...
...Senator (jorge and I have not and will not u?e the appointment of any of our frmds...
...Tilson to this judgeship...
...And when it again became manifest that he could not be confirmed, President Coolidge again withdrew the nomination...
...It was not because of any quarrel with the President that the Senate refused to cormfm" i-hfe normriaUon oi" Charles Beecher Warren as head of the Department of Justice...
...President Coolidge's hold on the Sense is waning...
...Lenroot, of Wisconsin ;md others...
...If such methods are accepted and condoned as applied to these semi-judicial commissions, is there any reason why we should be surprised if this same method is used to control the decisions and appointments of the Federal Bench or even of the Supreme Court...
...Tilson will have a larger and more determined mjority than in the two pre-" vious sessias...
...If Mr, Tilon's nomination could havfl been justified in the first instance, what respect or confidence can the citizenship of the country have for a court presided over by a judge willing to accept""recess" appointments in open defiance of the spirit of the constitutional provision that he shall be confirmed by the Senate...
...There is every reason to believe that the opposition to the confirmation of Mr...
...Tilson's name to the Senate for confirmation...
...Judge" 'ilson is brother of Representative Tson, of Connecticut, the Republican flor leader of the United States House of Rpresentatives...
...Woodlock a recess appointment...
...Tilson not only does not reside in ue district, but his expert ence Has ben principally in abstract ; loan, and isurance business, more than geneal practice...
...The objections to his confirmation were a public record, but when it came to vote on his confirmation the Senate refused to make public the roll call...
...He served therefore on the Commission nearly a year without pay...
...It is a record that the American people may well view with grave apprehension...
...Tilson can draw no salary, ut in the meantime he will have rendeed important decisions incident to holcng his high judicial position...
...Wadswortb of New York...
...Woodlock before the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee...
...Coolidge sought to reward for his nominating seech in the 1920 convention, to the two Alaska judges, who were withdrawn after their unanimous rejection by the Judiciary Committee, because of testimony against them declared to be "unfit to print," these appointees have been rejected solely because of their unfitness and not because of any partisan political opposition...
...When the second session of the 69th Congress convened, December, 1926, President Coolidge again sent Mr...
...In the last election some c the most unqualified "stand-behind-the-Vesident" supporters were defeated —Butler, of Massachusetts...
...The President sent his name to the Senate for confirmation at the beginning of the first session of the 69th Congress, December, 1925...
...After tyie adjournment of the first session of the 69th Congress, President Coolidge gave Mr...
...Tilson another recess appointment, which he will fill until the convening of the 70th Congress next December, when President Coolidge will be obliged once more to submit his appointment to the Senate for confirmation...
...Because he had been a "railroad expert" in the employ of the Wall Street Journal and because he had served for a number of years on the Board of Direct-ers of a number of railroads, the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce twice rejected the Woodlock nomination...
...If he is r>t confirmed at the next session of theSenate, Mr...
...The only inference is that some Senators under pressure voted for Woodlock with the understanding that the roll call was to be kept secret, because they knew they could not justify their votes to their constituents...
...Having failed in his purpose once, the President sent Warren's name a second time to the Senate, using every available force of the administration to bring Senators into line to vote for the confirmation...
...Tilson a recess appointment...
...Tilson V President Coolidge in evasion of the mrpose of the Constitution, Senator Haris, of Georgia, is reported to have saidhe did not believe the President "would hire thought of recommending Mr...
...When it became evident there was po hope of Mr...
...The attempt of President Coolidge to extort from Commissioner Lewis a resignation signed in advance as a condition for his re-appointment is merely an example o.t "ih'e tactics that have D'een used" in an attempt to control the Tariff Commission in the sugar tariff case...
...The record made in the Tilson case demonstrates that he would not hesitate to juggle with the appointment of a Supreme Court Judge...
...Speaking>f his third appointment of Mr...
...Tilson, President Coolidge wuld not of course have twice withdrawn lis name as he did to avoid rejection oihis confirmation by the Senate...
...No one considers hin an outstanding lawyer...
...What President Coolidge has done in the Tilson recess appointment, he might of course do in case of a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court bench...
...This charge is not made lightly, without regard to the record of incontrovertible evidence that exists to sustain it, During the Tariff Commission's hearings conducted by the Committee, of which I am a member, we have listened to testimony of executive attempts to coerce the majority of this Commission that would be incredible if it were not fully supported and corroborated...
...It was solely on the ground of unfitness that the Senate'took this extraordinary stand...
...In spite of a disposition on the part of the opposition to accept any appointee against whom no serious charges have been lodged, no administration, so far as I can discover, has had so many nominees rejected or withdrawn as that of President Coolidge...
...Playing Hokus With Appointments PRESIDENT COOLIDGE'S persistent oversight of his Constitutional obligation to appoint public officials "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate," is again demonstrated since the adjournment of Congress in his appointment of William Josiah Tilson to a judgeship in Georgia...
...llson or anyone else outside of th district, except for the influence oOmgressman Tilson...

Vol. 19 • April 1927 • No. 4


 
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