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H E A R IN G

BEF ORE THE

COMMITTEE ON

INTE RIOR ANI> INSULAR AFFAIRS

UNITED STATES SENATE

XIX KT] KTII COXGKKSS

SECO ND SE SS IO N

ON

T H E NO MIN AT IO N OF MAR GA RE T HUNTE R P IE R C E TO BE 

A CO M MISSIONE R OF T H E IN DIA N CL AIMS CO MMI SS ION

OC TO BE R 9, 1968

P ri n te d fo r th e us e of th e 

Com mittee on In te ri o r an d In su la r Affa irs

22-365

U.S. GO VE RNME NT PR IN TI NG OF FICE 

WASHINGT ON : 1968
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COMMITTEE ON INTERIO R AND INSULAR AFFAIRS

H ENRY M. JAC KSON , Washington, Chairman

CL IN TO N P. AN DE RS ON , New Mexico

ALAN BIBLE, Nevada

FR AN K CH URC H, Idaho

ER NES T GRUEN IN G, Alaska

FR ANK E. MOSS, U tah

QU EN TIN N. BURDIC K, North Dak ota

CARL HA YD EN , Arizona

GE OR GE MCGOVERN, South Dakota

GA YL OR D NE LS ON , Wisconsin

LE E ME TC AL F, Montana

TIIOMAS II. KU CI I EL, California 

GO RD ON AL LO TT , Colorado 

LE N B. JO RD AN , Idaho 

PAUL J. FA NN IN , Arizona 

CL IF FO RD P. HA NS EN , Wyoming 

MARK O. HATF IE LD , Oregon

J erry T. Verkler, Staff Director

Stewart French, Chief Counsel

E. Lewis R eid, Minor ity Counsel

(II)
NOMINATION OF MRS. MARG ARET H. PIER CE TO BE A 

COMMISSIONER OF THE INDIAN CLAIM S COMMISSION

W EDN ESDA Y, OC TO BE R 9, 19 68

U .S . S en at e.

Com m it te e on I nt erior and I ns ul ar Aff air s.

D.C.

The committee met. pursuant to call, at 2 p.m., in room 3110, New 

Senate Office Building, Senator Clinton P. Anderson, presiding.

Present: Senators Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico, Fran k E. 

Moss of Utah, Carl Hayden of Arizona, Thomas II. Kuchel of California, and Paul J. Fannin of Arizona.

Also present : Je rry T. Verkler. staff director: Stewart French, chief 

counsel: James II. Camble, professional stall' member: and E. Lewis 

Reid, minority counsel.

Senator Anderson. This is an open, public hearing by the Senate 

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs on the nomination by P resident Johnson of Mrs. Margaret Pierce to be a member of the Indian 

Claims Commission.

The biographical sketch of this distinguished public servant has 

been printed in the Congressional Record. But, without objection, 1 

will direct that it be made a part of these hearings as well.

(Thedocument referred to follows:)

Resume of Margaret Hunter Pierce, Washington, D.C.

Personal his tor y: Born: Jun e 30, 1910, Weedsport, N.Y. Pa rents: Dr. Thomas 

Murray Hu nter and Ruby Sanders Hunter. Religion : Pr ot es tant ; member of 

Georgetown Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C. Marital sta tus: Divorced; 

one child : daughter. B arbara Hunter Pierce (1-1 years old).

Education : B.A. 1932, Mount Holyoke College, majo r in English composition and 

literature: minor in music. Jun ior year taken at University of Wisconsin. Summer sessions at Detroit City College (now Wayne University ) and Syracuse 

University. LL.B. 1939, New York University Law School (evening division).

Employment: While in law school, served as law clerk and secretary to Ralph 

B. Plager, then tax atto rney in the legal dep artm ent of the Irving T rus t Co., One 

Wall Stree t, New York, N.Y., 1935-41. Law clerk and secretary to Murray F. 

Johnson, partn er in firm of Harper & Matthews. 70 Pine Street, New York, N.Y. 

General prac tice with emphasis on tax law. 1941-42.

Government service: After passing the examination given by the U.S. Bo ard of 

Legal Exam iners then (1942) required of all atto rne ys seeking Government employment, was employed as an atto rney as follows :

September 1942-May 1943: Office of Alien Pro per ty Custodian. Real and Personal P roperty Section of the Division of Investigation and Research.

This position required the investigation of the sta tus of prop erty suspected of 

being alien owned or controlled; to prepare investigation reports containing 

findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recomm endations to the Custodian to 

vest or not to vest. Afte r 3 months.was placed in charge of the work of IS at to rneys engaged in th is work.

(1)
9

May 1943-June 30, 1945: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor, 

Davis-Bacon Section and Wage Adjustment Board (Building and Construction 

Division of the National War Labor Board).

At the end of first yea r here, as a staff attorney, was promoted to review at to rney, supervising the work of 8 other attorney s doing work under the Davis-Bacon 

Act and for tlie Wage Adjustm ent Board. In addition, handled all correspondence 

relative to inquiries concerning the wage stabilization program in the building 

construction industry.

Jul y 1 to December 1945 : Employed in private industry.1

Jan uary-O ctober 1946: National Labor Relations Board; served as a review 

attorney.

January-November 1947: The U.S. Court of Claims; law clerk to Judg e J. 

Warren Madden.

November 1947-November 1948: National Labor Relations Board; again served 

Board as a legal ass istant to Board member Grey. (This was afte r the passage of 

the T aft-Hartley Act.)

November 1948-July 1959: The U.S. Court of Claims; served as perm anent law 

clerk to the court. When ju nior law clerks were eventually employed, they worked 

und er her supervision. Work involved research and writing in all phases of the 

court’s jurisdiction. In July 1959. was appointed to the position of Reporter of 

Decisions and Librarian. In addition to writing the lieadnotes to the decisions 

and prep aring the cou rt’s decisions, orders, and law digest for publication in 

bound volumes, devised a new law digest of the court’s opinions, beginning with 

July 1958. (Compare the digests in the backs of volumes 140 and 150.) Prepared 

a card index system for the law digest, which is kept current. Reviewed all pending legislation, compiled legislative histories, examined law journals and called 

the court’s a tten tion to the artic les of par ticula r interest to its legal personnel, 

and assisted the judges, commissioners, and law clerks with research problems.

Bar memberships: Bar of the State of New York, admitted 1941; Bar of the 

District of Columbia, adm itted 1958; Bar of the U.S. Court of Claims, adm itted 

1951.

Member of the D istrict of Columbia and Federal Bar Associations.

Committee membership: Court of Claims Committee of District of Columbia 

Ba r Association, presently serving as secreta ry to committee.

Military law committee of District of Columbia Bar Association.

Indian law committee of F ederal Bar Association.

Se na tor Anderson. On behalf of the committee I welcome Mrs. 

Pierce and assure her of our interest in her selection and the servic es 

she will he called upon to render.

I should state that I am act ing as ch airma n in the absence of Se na tor 

Jac kson, who is necessa rily absent from th e city.

The ( ’hief C omm issio ner o f th e Court of Claims, Marion 'I'. Bennett, 

with whom I had the honor serving in Congress some yea rs ago, is 

pres ent to i ntro duce Mrs. Pierce.

I see ( ’omm issio ner V ance is here also.

Mr. Bennett, we will h ea r you. f on may come on up now.

Mr. A ance. 1 know that ordin arily we would have yon speak first for 

the nominee, hut because Mr. Bennett has known her for q uite a long 

t ime, we will let him go first.

STATEMENT OF MARION T. BENNETT. CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF 

COURT OF CLAIMS

Mr. Benn ett. Mr. Ch air ma n, lo r the record my name is M ario n T. 

Ben nett. T am Ch ief Com missioner, T’.S. Court of Claim s. I ap pe ar 

here in support of the nom ination of Mrs. Marg are t Pierce to the 

Ind ian Claims Commission.

<1 W'U"A? th e De cemb er 1945, was emplo yed in pri vat e in dust ry to w ri te

th e W as hing ton Rep or t fo r a tr ad e jo urn al (p lumbing an d hea ting bu si ne ss ). Th e art ic le s 

dea lt w ith th e bu ildi ng an d co nst ru ct io n in dust ry an d le gi slat io n re la ti ng to th a t in dust ry . B
3

Mrs. Pierce has been on our stall’ at the U.S. Co urt of Cla ims fo r 

over 20 years. 1 have known her all tha t time. I hav e had a go od o pp or ­

tunity to observe the quality of her work. I can assu re the com mittee 

that thi s nominee is a highly competent law yer, well versed in In dian 

law. We are pleased to see h er considered fo r this pre fer me nt, b ut we 

shu dder at the t hought of losing her. She will be most difficult for us to 

replace on our staff.

She is pre sentl y the Court Re po rte r of Decisions and pre pares the 

headnotes an d law digest. She had man y years of experience previous ly 

as an att orney in variou s agencies of the Government and as a law 

clerk in our cou rt. She has d rafted man y memorandum s dealing w ith 

the most complex questions, b oth legal and fac tua l, in connection with 

In dian cla ims cases.

1 know that your com mittee h as lon g been concerned abou t the backlog of cases at the India n Claims Commission . We ha ve been concerned 

about it at the Court of Claims as well, because we get these cases on 

appeal from the Commission and we are criticized from time to time 

about the age of these cases, b ut we cann ot do an ything a bout it un til 

we get them on app eal. Many of them are old before the y get to us.

Mrs. Pie rce , as a member of the I nd ian Claims Commission , because 

of her e xperience in Indian law, w ould be o f g reat benefit to the co urt 

and to the Commission. I think th at I can assure you with fu ll confidence th at she would be of grea t assistance to the Co mmission in h elping get the wash out, so to spea k, and to speed up the dis position of 

the cases on their docket, an obje ctive s hared by all of the m emb ers of 

the Commission, and one which she is peculi arl y qu alified by exp erience 

and ab ilities to fac ilitate .

I am pleased to present Mrs. Pie rce , and eit he r of us will be h ap py 

to answer any questions t ha t we can that are pr offered by th e mem bers 

of the committee.

Se nator Anderson. Mr. Vance?

STATEMENT OF JOHN VANCE, CHAIRMAN. INDIAN CLAIMS 

COMMISSION

Mr. Vance. Mr. Ch airma n, members of the committee, I am just 

here as a courtesy to my fellow law yer, Mrs. P ierce. And I am sure th at 

her nomination alone certainly, if she is confirmed, will be a real in ­

spiration to the less than 2 p erc ent enrollme nt in law school of ladies 

today. If she is confirmed, she will add some balance and style to the 

In dian C laims Com mission.

Se na tor Anderson. Mrs. Pierce, we will be pleased to have a stat ement f rom you. Go ahead.

What is yo ur desire on this court? How are you intere sted in the 

In dian Claim s Comm ission ?

STATEMENT OF MRS. MARGARET H. FIERCE

Mrs. Pierce. 1 am really hon ored, of course, to be nomin ated for 

this position, and I hope that the co mmittee will feel t ha t I am qua lified 

to do t he work of the Comm ission and to help clear up th ei r back log. 

Tha t has been the story of my life in Governme nt service since 1942.

Most of my experience has been in quasi-ju dic ial work , the ana lysis
4

of com plic ated reco rds, exhibits, findings of fact, and decisions and 

usu ally the work of cleaning up a backlog.

I th in k I work well und er pressu re, and I like In di an work very 

much.

I would be glad to answ er any questions tha t you have to ask me.

Se nator Anderson. Now that you have men tioned a backlog, there 

were some of us who were worrie d about a person who late r became 

Secre tary of the Department of Ag ric ult ure . lie had been Ass istant 

Secre tary of Ag ricult ure .

In 1946, when th e Indian C laim s Commission was formed he w anted 

to talk about ge tting on the Comm ission. I persuaded him not to tak e 

the job with the Comm ission, and he became a fixture in the D ep ar tment of A gricu ltu re, Ch arle y B ran nan.

I told him the Comm ission was not going to last very long, b ut it is 

now str on ge r tha n ever and is goi ng to the yea r 2006. I won't hold 

you to the y ear 2000, but do tell us what your general bac kgrou nd is. 

Are you a mem ber of t he bar ?

Airs. Pierce. Yes, I am a mem ber of the bars of the St ate of New 

York, o f the D istrict of Columb ia, and of th e Court o f Claim s.

Se nator Anderson. What are you going to do with this accum ula ­

tion of cases ? W ha t would your hope be ?

Airs. Pierce. Aly hope would be tha t we would finish by the time 

that Congress has suggested or, in fact, has s aid the Com mission sh ould 

finish. Tha t is a hop eful “we.” Th at is by Apr il 10, I think , of 1972. 

And I will do every thing in my pow er to br ing that about and help 

my fellow C omm issioners to do so.

Se nator Anderson. S enato r AIoss ?

Senator AIoss. Th an k you, Air. Ch airma n.

Airs. Pierce, you have been involved in legal work associated with 

cou rts or qua si-judicia l proceedings for a good period of tim e in the 

Governm ent. I s th at corre ct?

Airs. Pierce. Yes, sir.

Senator AIoss. And du rin g this period of time have you been con ­

fronte d by a sim ila r situat ion where the re was great imp atie nce to get 

the backlog moved alon g?

Airs. P ierce. Yes, I have, sir.

Se nator AIoss. An d you feel you have been able to coni ribute to moving it along d ur ing that pe riod of t ime ?

Airs. Pierce. A'es, I have.

Se nator AIoss. I have great confidence in the resources of ladie s and 

ladv law yer s when they set their mind to get som ething moved. And 

if I felt th at you had a set o f mind th at was to clean thi s th in g up and 

get the backlog moved alon g, then I would vote for you with the 

gre atest ala cri ty.

Do you th ink you have that set of mind ?

Airs. P ierce. A es, I know 1 have. I thi nk Commissioner Bennett will 

bear me out on that.

Se na tor AIoss. I have a feeling that you do. And h aving he ard C ommission er Benn ett introduce you—and I have great confidence in him 

and h is appra isa l of the abilities of people—I have confidence that you 

can do a job on this. And pe rhap s to those fou r men sitti ng aro und 

the re you might say: “Look, let's get down to business and move thi s 

thing.” All rig ht ?
5

Mrs. Pierce. All right.

Senator Moss. Thank yon, Mr. Chairman.

Senator Axdersox. Senator Kuchel ?

Senator Kuciiel. Mrs. Pierce, when was the Indian Claims Commission created by statute, roughly ?

Mrs. Pierce. In 1946.1 think it was August.

Senator Kuciiei.. I low many members are there ?

Mrs. Pierce. There are now live members. There were three then. 

There are supposed to be five now.

Senator Kuchel. You have been for some 10 or 11 years Reporter 

of Decisions in the Court of Claims, flow would you describe the 

duties of your office, as the Reporter of Decisions ?

Mrs. Pierce. Senator Kuchel, as Reporter of Decisions, I am responsible for bringing out, publishing, and editing, the decisions of 

tlie court and all the orders. I have to write the headnotes, which are 

the law notes to the case, and prepare the law digest.

When I took this job over in 1959 there had been no Reporter for 

over a year, so there was a year's backlog then. And at that time there 

was not a law digest in the sense as most of you know it. That is, in 

the back of each volume there was a heading which read “contracts,” 

and that was all. You had to figure out whether the point of law involved a breach of contract or a claim under the disputes clause of the 

contract. It was not really a law digest. A pay case was just classified 

as a “suit for salary.”

There was no law digest as such, just numbered paragraphs, with 

general labels, and I was asked to devise one, which 1 have done. I put 

the digest on a cumulative card index system similar to one that I 

learned to use at the National Labor Relations Board, and I have extensive cross indexes developed over the years.

The backlog at one time was almost 3 years of back volumes, and 

now we are current. We have a volume at the Prin ting Office now 

which takes in May and June decisions of this year. We don’t have 

enough material yet for the next volume.

Senator Kuchel. I n your experience as a lawyer for the agencies of 

the Federal Government that you have enumerated, have you been 

called upon to act as a hearing officer in any of those capacities?

Mrs. P ierce. No, Senator Kuchel, I have not. My work has always 

been in the decisionmaking process.

Senat or Kuciiel. Thank you very much.

Senator Axdersox. Senator Fannin?

Senator F annin. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mrs. Pierce, how long have you been a member of the Indian law 

committee of the Federal Bar Association ?

Mrs. P ierce. I don't know how long because I have not been active 

on that committee. Senator Fannin. I think it has been about 10 years.

I receive their communications, and occasionally they ask me for 

material. Mr. Flickinger. the chairman of the committee, asked me to 

be on it a number of years ago, and I told him 1 wouldn’t have much 

t ime to devote to it, but they carried me on it as a member.

Senator Fannin. I notice Mr. Bennett introduced you, and certainly 

his introduction and the background material which we have is very 

impressive as to your experience. I just wanted to know that you were 

well versed in Indian law. That is why T was asking the question.
G

Mrs. Pierce. Wou ld you like to know a little bit about m y experience 

in I nd ian law?

Se nator F axxix . Yes.

Mrs. Pierce. When I lirst came to the court, the In dian C laim s Commission Act bad just been passed, but we Innin f any cases on app eal yet. 

'Pbe cou rt was then en ter tai nin g Ind ian cases under special ju ris di ctional acts, and I cut my tee th on the Alcea Bank of Tillam ook s, which 

was a large case involving land claims in Oregon. I worked on th at for 

.Judge Marvin Jon es, as I recall.

The next case involved land claim s o f the Pogue Piv er B and. I was 

then the only law clerk to all five judges. It was a career p osition, and 

usu ally an experienced law yer was hir ed for thi s work. Th e judges 

would turn over the difficult and heavy cases where a g rea t deal of research was required.

From th en on I did most of the Ind ian work for the co urt. W hen the 

Ind ian Claims Commission ma terial began coming up to the c ourt on 

appeal—we had not been an app ellate court until the In di an Claims 

Commission Act was passed—the judges turned over thi s wor k to me 

to p ion eer also. I continued to assist the cou rt in most o f th e im po rta nt 

In dian a ppeals until 1 became R ep orter of Decisions in 1959.

Senator F axxtx. Tha nk you very much.

1 have no fu rthe r questions.

Se nator Anderson. Tha t will c onclude th e questioning.

We will take a little check back here.

Th ank you very much.

Mrs. P ierce. 'Phankyou ve ry m uch.

(Wher eup on, at 2:40 p.m. the committee recessed, to reconvene at 

the call of the Ch air .)

o