Evening star., 1938-01-25
CHECK ON DOCKETS
|0F COURTS URGED
Cummings Asks Administra-
tive Agency Under
Supreme Tribunal.
By ]. A. O'LEARY,

Creation OF a new agency under the
Supreme Court to supervise the ad-
ministrative problems Of the Federal
courts, handle their budgets and keep
track Of the condition of dockets was
urged by Attorney General Cummings
before the Senate Judiciary Commit
tee late yesterday.
The committee is scheduled to re-
sumo hearings on the subject at 2:3O
o'clock this afternoon, with Federal
Judge Martin Manton slated to appear.
Mr.. Cummings told the committee
1t is illogical to have the budget Of
the courts under the Department Of
Justice under this country's system of
having three coordinate branches of
Government-the legislative, executive
and judicial, Passage Of the pending
bin would transfer to the proposed
administrative office Of the United
States courts the duties Of an admin
istrative nature the Department of
Justice now performs for the courts.
1t would not interfere with the
control of the Department Of Justice
over offices Of district attorneys and
United States marshaIs.
Cites Manifest Defects"
The present method Of handling the
administrative end of the iudicia,
machinery "just grew up like Topsy,"
Mr.. Cummings testified, and has pro-
duced some manifest defects" he
added.
The result is that nowhere is there
any administrative agent responsible
for facilitating transaction Of business,
he said. The testimony indicated Mr..
cummings believes the head of this
new agency would be able to make
suggestions for speeding up litigation
where court dockets fall behind, bu,
some members of the committee oues-
toned whether the new official would
be in any better position to deal with
that than is possible under the present
system.
The Attorney General said some
delays are the result of archaic ru1es
OF practice" but this source of delav
Will be largely eliminated by a new
set OF rules prepared recently in &C.
cordance with a 1884 act of Congress.
ne predicted Other DELAYS, he said
are due TO inefficiency and lack Of
system in handling court business
because of the absence Of an admins
tratlve officer to make suggestions on
procedure.
Travelling Adviser Hinted.
Mr.. Cummings indicated one Of the
duties OF the director of the admins
trative office would be to travel around
the country. confer with judges and
receive their suggestions on admins
trative problems.
Senator Austin, Republican. Of Yer
mont wanted to know whether. If a
court was dilatory, this new othcer
could say to the Judge You can't
take vacation this year until your
court catches up"
'Oh, no. the Attorney General re-
Piled. But there would be nothing
to prevent him from writing a letter"
Senator Norris, Independents, of Ne
braska inquired whether a Judge who
permits his docket to get behind would
take very kindly to the suggestion of
this new administrative officer. The
Neoraskan pointed out that a fudge
holds an Office with life tenure and
that the existence of a crowded docket
an easily ascertained fact.
The Attorney General argued, how
ever. that If the new Official was re-
porting to the Supreme Court, such a
judge would not want the condition
OF his docket spread upon the records.
King Sees Efficiency.
Senator King, Democrat. Of Utah
indicated he thought the present
system is working we'll, with the Fed
eral judges meeting in annua. con-
ference to discuss dockets and other
administrative problems. He also
said he has found the Department Of
Justice highly efficient in keeping data
available on the condition of dockets.
After thanking Senator King for the
commentator of his department, MIR.
Cummings replied:
You almost disarm ME. but stick
to my point. If I find dockets in
arrears, what can I do about it?"
Chairman Ashurst indicated he
bases his support of the bill on the
desirability of diyorcing the affairs Of
the courts from the Department of
Justice in view of the fact that the
Government is often the litigant
against the citizen in the courts.