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GOVERNMEN1

NOMINATION

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18 1973

THE.

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HEARING

ru BEFORE THE

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COMMITTEE ON

JR AND PUBLIC WELFARE

NITED STATES SENATE

< NINETY-SECOND CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

ON,

COLSTON A. LEWIS, OF VIRGINIA, TO BE A MEMBER OF THE

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

SEPTEMBER 20, 1972

Printed for the use of the Committee on Labor and Public 'Welfare

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

86-213 0 WASHINGTON : 1972

6
COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE

HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR., New Jersey, Chairman

JENNINGS RANDOLPH, West Virginia

CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts

GAYLORD NELSON, Wisconsin

WALTER F. MONDALE, Minnesota

THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Missouri

ALAN CRANSTON, California

HAROLD E. HUGHES, Iowa

ADLAI E. STEVENSON III, Illinois

STEWART E. McC LURE, Staff Director

ROBERT E. NAGLE, General CO217t8e1

ROY H. MILLENSON, Minority Staff Director

EUGENE MITTELMAN, Minority Counsel

JACOB K. JAVITS, New York

PETER H. DOMINICK, Colorado

RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, Pennsylvania

BOB PACKWOOD, Oregon

ROBERT TAFT, JR., Ohio

J. GLENN BEALL, JR., Maryland

ROBERT T. STAFFO R D , Vermont
NOMINATION

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1972

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBI.IC WELFARE,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 4232,

New Senate Office Building, Hon. Harrison A. Williams, Jr., chairman,

presiding.

Present: Senators Williams, Pell, Cranston, Javits, Dominick and

Schweiker.

Committee staff members present: Stewart E. McClure, staff director; Robert E. Nagle, general counsel; and Eugene Mailman,

minority counsel.

The CHAIRMAN. The Committee on Labor and Public Welfare is

meeting this morning to hear testimony on a nomination submitted

by the President.

Our nominee is Mr. Colston A. Lewis, of Virginia, to be a member of

the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Welcome to the committee, Mr. Lewis.

STATEMENT OF COLSTON A. LEWIS, OF VIRGINIA, TO BE A MEMBER

OF THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

Mr. LEWIS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to appear.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lewis we have your biography here, and we

will have it made a part of the record at this point.

(The biography of Mr. Lewis follows:)

(1)
2

AND

COLSTON A. LEWIS, COMMISSIONER

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

Colston A. Lewis, a black Republican lawyer from

Richmond, Virginia, has a notable career in the civil

rights movement.

Following his discharge from the Army in 1946, Lewis

organized the first campaign in Lynchburg, Va., to elect

a Negro to the City Council. Although the candidate,

C.V. Wilson, was defeated, Lewis' organization, the Voters'

League, succeeded in bringing all the registered black

voters to the polls. The Voters' League is still in

existence, and Lewis later organized a similar effort in

Richmond, Known as the Crusaae for Voters.'

Lewis was the first Negro to be appointed Public Defender

of Richmond, and has been Chairman of the Electoral Board

of that city. Lewis has worked for the N.A.A.C.P. and the

Urban League, and was a special aidato Virginia Governor

Linwood Holton.

A graduate of Virginia Union University and Howard

University Law School (Class of '48), he entered the

Virginia State Bar in 1949 and opened his own practice the

following year. Lewis specialized in domestic relations,

criminal law, and juvenile cases, and is a member of the

National Bar Association. He has worKed on a number of

school desegregation cases in Virginia, including tnose in

Essex, Northumberland, King and Queen, .and Westmoreland

Counties, and has also represented the P.T.A. Leagues for

those counties.

Lewis, 60, was appointed to the Commission by President

Nixon in 1970. He was reappointed by the President on

July 14, 1972, subject to confirmation by the Senate for a

term expiring July 1, 1977.

Lewis is married to the former Glenyce D. Davis of

Petersburg, Va. Lewis and his wife,Glenyce,live in

Washington, D.C. They have a twelve year old son Colston A.

Lewis, Jr.
3

The CHAIRMAN. We understand Congressman Whitehurst from the

Second District of Virginia is here to introduce you, and we are

honored to have him here.

Mr. WHITEHURST. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate this

opportunity.

I had this pleasure a couple of years ago when Mr. Lewis was

nominated to succeed the unexpired portion of the term of Mr.

Alexander.

There is not too much I could add in addition. I have known Mr.

Lewis for some time. He has a splendid record.

Nir. Lewis ha,s been greatly involved with the racial progress we have

made in. my State. He is very highly thought of by our Governor.

think he has discharged his responsibilities very effectively, in the time

he has been on the Commission, and I think his stewardhip there

recommends him, and I am pleased to appear with him.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much.

Now, do you have a statement, Mr. Lewis, that you would like to

make?

Mr. LEWIS. No sir. I have no particular statement to make, except,

that I have enjoyed working with the program as part of my life's

work, and. I feel it is a great opportunity to be here before this committee.

The CHAIRMAN. We certainly appreciate the importance of this

position in the fight against employment discrimination.

The congressional enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity

Act of 1972 certainly increased your responsibilities a great deal.

As you know, we are very familiar with the history of the enactment

of that legislation, which followed an extensive filibuster and represented a milestone in. the efforts of our society to end job discrimination, based on race, color; religion, sex or national origin.

It is now about 6 months since the President signed this act into

law.

In July, Senator Javits and I wrote to the Commission to find out

about the backlog of more than 30,000 cases, and also to ascertain

what the Commission was doinp.e, to implement the statute, as we had

passed it.

We have not had a response to either of these questions, that is,

the elimination of the backlog, and the implementation of the new

statute.

I wonder if you could now personally enlighten us on these two

questions.

Mr. LEWIS. Well, Mr. Chairman, I feel that we at the Commission

have spent a great deal of time tooling up the machinery to implement

the new legislation, for the most part, and. I must say that the Commission in some of its vital areas is understaffed.

The turnover has been tremendous since I have been there, and not

until recently have we been on a pretty sound basis where we can

really operate, and try to reduce the backlog.

I think we are making some progress, but I think that one of the

things that we have to consider is the questi.on of our budget not

having been passed by the Congress for 1973; therefore, it is difficult to

do but so much concrete planning without the necessary wherewithal
4

to operate, but the last 6 months, for the most part, have been spent

reorganizing and setting up the necessary machinery to implement the

new legislation.

Of course, we have made some progress, we have filed some suits in

some areas, we have issued some good decisions, and I think after we

have the reorganization established, and the necessary money to

handle it, I think that we will be able to move very rapidly.

In fact, what we have done is to implement decentralization procedures; namely district directors now have some authority to dispose

of cases which fall within established guidelines, which will reduce the

backlog greatly, because they will not have to go through the process

of coming to headquarters and then being returned to the field for

subsequent action. And only those cases which might fall outside of

the guidelines, or that might raise novel questions, will have to be

forwarded to headquarters or consolidated here; so I think that we now

have established the machinery which will greatly reduce the backlog.

There are one or two things that I think we could add to it, which

will greatly reduce the backlog, but they will require further staff

study.

I think we will be moving along pretty nicely, if we get the money.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, there is a vote on now in the Senate. We have

to leave for that, but could you remain here, Mr. Lewis, and we will be

back very shortly.

Mr. LEWIS. I shall be glad to.

(Whereupon, the committee was in short recess.)

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

Mr. Lewis, the law states that no more than three of the Commissioner S shall be of any one political party; is that right?

Mr. LEWIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You were appointed as a Republican?

Mr. LEWIS. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. So you are a Republican Commissioner?

Mr. LEWIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. This certainly is an area where partisanship has no

place, am I right?

Mr. LEWIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to ask why you went to the Republican

convention?

Mr. LEWIS. Why I went?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. LEWIS. I was elected by my constituents.

The CHAIRMAN. As a delegate?

Mr. LEWIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Someone suggested here that I had better inquire

about that, because we were wondering whether that particular political office was appropriate for a person sitting above partisanship on

the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Do you think that was the best thing in the world, to go stand for

election as a delegate?

Mr. LEWIS. Well, I did not think I was taxed on anything.

As a delegate, to be perfectly frank, that question never rose in my

mind. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, it had not risen in my mind until somebody

raised it.
5

Mr. LEWIS. I do not think it means anything, because actually—I

did not even consider it important.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, I appreciate your candor.

Mr. LEWIS. I could have just as easily stayed away as having gone,

for the good I did, but it really never crossed my mind.

I happened to have seen some pretty influential people down there,

as delegates on some other things

'

so I thought that as small as I am,

I did not think it made too much difference.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, I appreciate your comments.

Mr. LEWIS. In our Commission, we do not bother too much about

party politics.

We have some of the best operators from the other party. We go on.

performance for the most part, and we recognize the rights of everybody, so we are not squeamish about a party.

If a person qualifies for a position, that is how we operate.

Some of the key people that have come on, they are not party

affiliates.

The CHAIRMIN. , Well, you know, sometimes this is considered to

be of a judicial nature, this position, quasi-judicial, and yet there is

no hard line.

We know judges stand for office out of the political parties in some

of the States.

Mr. LEWIS. If you will notice, one of my good friends, one is a

card-carrying Democrat. I gave him the highest recommendation for

a judgeship appointment. He worked very hard for Senator Humphrey,

and he will be sworn in as a judge on Friday. At our Commission, we

do not draw any hard line on party affiliation. An individual is judged

on performance.

The CHAIRMAN. For a time that you have served on the Commission,

you were incapacitated due to an automobile accident?

• Mr. LEWIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How are you doing now?

Mr. LEWIS. I am doing very well. I am on a cane, I have a slight

limp.

I was in the hospital for almost 7 months.

The CHAIRMAN. You look very well. You must be doing Nvell.

Mr. LEWIS. At one time, the doctor said my physical condition

was serious, because my thigh muscles, which are well developed as a

result of being an athlete, kept my thigh bones from coming together;

so the doctors had to operate after I came out of a full body cast after

3 months, and then they still did not heal properly, because of the

bone graft from my hip. But I am doing very well now.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Javits, do you have any questions?

Senator JA.virrs. Mr. Lewis, I thank you very much for standing

by for me.

We have been busy with health bills on the floor.

Mr. Lewis, I wanted to use this occasion of your being here for

confirmation to deal with a major problem respecting the Commission,

and through you I would like to transmit a serious message to the

Commission.

I do not understand the pace at which the Commission is operating.

Mr. Brown, the Chairman, received a letter from me dated July 25,

1972—that is now almost 2 months ago—to which I have not yet had a
6

reply, and I ask unanimous consent that letter be inserted in, the

record.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, so ordered.

(The letter dated July 25, 1972, follows:)
HARRISON WILLIAMS, !IA.. N.J., CHAIRMAN

JENNINGS RANDOLPH. W. VA, JACO.. K. JAVITS, N.Y.

CLAIBORNE PELL, R.I. PETER H. CKINIINICK, COLO.

EDWARD M. KENNEDY. MASS. RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER. PA.

GAYLORD NFL,ON WIS. .00 PACRWoOD. OREG.

WALTER F. MONDAI E. MINN. ROBERT TAFT, JP., OHIO

THOMAS P. EAGI ETON, MO. J. GLENN BEALL, JR.. MD.

ALAN CRANSTON, CALIF. ROBERT T. STAFFORD, VT.

HAROLD E. HUGHES, IOWA

ADI-Al E. STEVENSON ILL.

STEWART E. MCCLURE. STAFF DIRECTOR

ROBERT E. NAGLE. GENERAL couNnia.

eAtruiteti Ziales Zerrate

COMMITTEE ON

LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE

WASHINnTON, D.C. 20510

July 25, 1972

The Honorable William H. Brown, III

Chairman

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

1800 "G" Street, N. W.

Washington, D. C. 20506

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The Congressional enactment of the Ecual Employment

Opportunity Act of 1972 marked a milestone in the efforts

of our society to end job discrimination based on race,

color, religion, sex or national origin.

The opportunity given the Commission through this

enforcement statute represents an unnaralleled chance to

provide redress in the form of decent employment opportunities for millions of minorities and women. It is

truly the chance to make a reality of the dream that was

first fashioned with the passacce of the Civil Rights Act

of 19621.

It has now been four months since the President

signed this Act into law and we have been somewhat disstressed by the failure of the Commission to take charge

of its new responsibilities with the full vigor and resources at its command. In the four months since the bill

was signed, less than ten cases have actually been brought

before the courts. In view of the backlog of more than

30,000 cases which was described to the Congress last year.

a more vigorous approach is certainly warranted and necessary.

During the confirmation hearings on William Carey to

be General Counsel to the Commission, this matter was raised

and it was suggested that the Committee would be asking

you for some additional details on the implementation of

the Equal Employment Onportunity Act of 1972 (P.L. 92-261).

It would be helpful if you would provide the Committee

at your earliest convenience with the following information:

1. The details and the supporting documents reflecting

the current case-load and the best estimate of

the number of individual comnlainants and respond-
8

The Honorable William H. Brown, III

July 25, 1972

Page 2

ents who are involved in charges. Please separate the number of charges into those filed

before the effective date of P.L. 92-261, and

those subsequent to it.

2. A comprehensvie statement of the extent to

which you contemplate reorganizing the Commission in order to achieve its new functions,

together with your analysis of the budget allocations relating to such reorganization. In this

regard we would appreciate knowing the expected

date by which the Commission will be functioning under this new organization.

3. A statement regarding the projected litigation

for the Commission and how you plan to clear

up the backlog of 30,000 cases for which you

requested court enforcement.

We would hope that in making available to the Committee the requested information you will bear in mind

that each of us on the Committee fully supports the principles of equal equal employment opportunity as demonstrated by

our efforts to secure enactment of P.L. 92-261. However,

we are pledged to a continuing review of the Commission's

operations until such time as the Congress is satisfied

the Commission has undertaken the mandate of the overwhelming vote last March.

If you have any questions regarding the above requests, please do not hesitate to communicate with the

Subcommittee staff at 225-3674.

Sincerely,

Harrison A. Williams, Jr.

Chairman

Jacob K. Javits

Ranking Minority Member

HAW:debb
9

Senator JAVITS. In that letter, I asked how the Commission was implementing its now powers. At that time I understood that less

than 10 cases had been brought before the courts.

As a matter of fact, only nine cases have been filed to date, and yet

there was described to us' the backlog of 30,000 cases last year, and

the main reason for passing the law to start suits instead of getting

cease-and-desist orders was because Mr. Brown himself since 1969

has been testifying that if we want action fast, we have got to give

him the right to sue.

The cease-and-desist order practice slows him up too much, he told

us. We gave him the right to sue. It is now not 4 months, but 6 months,

and there is still no action.

Now, if this situation really is to mature into what it was the

intention to make the Commission do, I am sure as a man of conscience you would want the Commission to do something so that we

do have more action.

If he does not have the people, he should say so. If there is any

other impediment to his work, he should say so.

I would like to point out to you these things have a capacity for

dying very fast, and we are seeing that with the erosion in the whole

civil rights struggle in the country, in education, and in other areas,

and I am deeply worried.

As one Senator deeply interested, and as a member of this committee, I think there is reason for enormous concern. There is nothing

that will get an agency running downhill faster than no action, and

I am really amazed that we have not had a reply to this letter, which

is a strong letter signed by the chairman of the committee and myself,

and I would think that the head of any Federal agency would hop to

it, but yet we have not had a word.

Anything that you can tell us about that, or any comment, will be

very welcome.

Mr. LEWIS. Well, Senator Javits, I have partially addressed myself

to the question asked me by Chairman Williams, but I must say the

same thing that I had previously said:* We are reorganizing and

preparing for the implementation of the new legislation, and that I

have no knowledge of the letter from you, Senator Javits.

Senator JAVITS. It is from the chairman 

Mr. LEWIS. Or I would have answered your letter, as I do all of

my mail, immediately, forthwith, but I had no knowledge of the

letter, but I must say that we have been in the process of reorganizing,

and what we are asking for is to implement this, the new legislation.

We have filed about nine cases, and they are now in various stages

of litigation.

After the smoke had cleared on the new legislation—let me say,

also have prepared a memorandum stating that our Commission is

understaffed. We do not have the personnel commensurate to do what

we are charged with accomplishing, and the turnover has been great.

We have a turnover of personnel, and we have some internal kinks

we just have to iron out, Senator, and it bothers me just as much as

it does you.

Senator JAVITS. I wish I could be satisfied with your answer. In the

first place, the letter was not addressed to you, so you have no responsibility for not complying, except as a member of the Commission.
10

It was addressed to the Honorable William H. Brown, Chairman,

and we have not heard from him. Secondly, whatever may be the

kinks, as long ago as 1969. when I was on the other side of Mr. Brown,

I was amazed that Mr. Brown came out for having the Commission

with the power to sue, instead of the power to cease and desist., and

he was arguing for it.

In answer to the questions he told me and Senator Prouty, the late

Senator Prouty—we were very interested in this matter—and he also

cross-examined him, he had lawyers on hand ready to act within a

week if we gave him power to start suing as compared with ceaseand-desist power, and he said there would not be any delay, because

he said in his testimony:

"As a, practical matter, there will be no first phase, because we

presently have in the Commission attorneys and general counsel

staff which could start filing suits immediately. We of course

would be recruiting lawyers in addition to those lawyers we have."

Now, I would certainly urge the Commission to tell us its troubles,

if it cannot institute suits which need to and deserve to be instituted.

We are not asking you to start suits that should not be started.

If you, came and testified that out of all of the 30,000 backlog

allegedly, only nine cases should be started, and you could have

whatever evidence is needed to back them up, I would be with you.

I would not care if you did not start one case, if there was that much

compliance or ability to get compliance, but it seems hardly likely

that nine cases is all that there ought to be, considering the backlog.

There is something wrong somewhere, and it has taken too long.

Now, we could sit on your nomination, just to say to the Com-•

mission, look, there is no use confirming anybody for you, because

you are not active.

I do not feel we ought to do that, and I am going to support your

confirmation, but I think you owe us an obligation in return to go hack

there with a new mandate, and really insist that we know what is going

on insofar as cases are concerned, and if not, why not, and if there are

only nine cases that ought to be started, we are entitled to justification

for it.

That is what this letter asks for. If there are more, and you cannot

start them, specifically, let us know why in' detail, and I hope very

much you, will as a Commissioner do that, and do what needs to be

done.

Mr. LEWIS. Senator, I assure you, I will do whatever I can, and I

will do it expeditiously.

Senator JAVITS. Thank you.

If you need any help from me, and I know our chairman joins me

he did, join, me in the letter, he is a longtime devotee to this question—

just call on us.

You will get great support here, but you must tell us what the story

is

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Schweiker, do you have any questions?

Senator SCHWETKER. I have no questions, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. I think the Commissioner, when he returns to the

office, probably will carry our feelings about_,- No. 1, the failure to

respond, and No. 2, the difficulty of understanding without an answer

to that letter, just what is going on down there. We know there should
11

be an explanation for the paucity of cases brought in this area when it

has been shown that litigation is the only way we can break through to

get equal rights established.

Mr. LEWIS. Mr. Chairman, you may rest assured that you will hear

from me very, very soon, and I think there are other Commissioners

who share the same opinion.

Senator JAVITS. I just wish to ask of Mr. Lewis, to take back with

him that I do not want to hear what I said from enemies of the program. I would rather say it.

The CHAIRMAN. That is a good point.

Mr. LEwis. Yes; I understand that.

The CHAIRMAN. 1(10 not think there is anything further, Mr. Lewis.

Senator Pell, do you have any questions?

Senator PELL. I have no questions, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Lewis, for your appearance here.

Mr. LEWIS. Thank you for the opportunity to appear, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will now proceed to further business.

(Whereupon the committee proceeded to further business.)

0