Evening star., 1946-12-08
Senate Lacks Guide
In BiIbo Proceedings
Case History of Previous Custer
Attempts Is Confusing
By Rer Collier.

Attempts Is Confusing
By Rer Collier.
If the inquiries by two Senate COM
mittees into the fitness Of Senator Bilbo
to serve another term In the Senate
should result in formal exclusion or ex-
pulsion proceedings in January, the Sem
ate will have no exact precedent to guide
1t in handling the case. The history of
Senate attempts to bar challenged men,
bers 'at the door. or to get rid OF them
after they have been seated Is a con-
fused one, involving varying interpreta-
tions of congressional powers in this
field. Results Of the infrequent at
tempts to exercise such powers also
have varied
The Senate's authority in such pro-
ceedings derives from Article I, section
S, of the Constitution, which states:
Each house shall be the judge of the
elections, returns and qualifications of
its own members. Each house
may determine the rules Of its proceed
ings, punish its members for disorderly
behavior, and, with the concurrence Of
two-thirds, expel member"
At first glance this authority appears
to be clear-eut and complete. But
review of some of the proceedings in
stituted in the past discloses that many
competent lawyers have differed widely
on the meaning and scope of the powers
of the Senate to police its membership.
or particular interest in connection
with the Bilbo case is the fact that
Senator Taft of Ohio, who, as chairman
of the Republican Steering Committee,
may lead the Senates attack on ''The
Man" from Mississippi, Is on record as
contending that no Senator-elect may
be barred from taking his seat II he
meets the qualifications specified for
membership by the Constitution. These
are that member must be 80 years
old, must have been nine years citizen
of the United States and, when elected,
must have been an inhabitant of the
State which elected him. Senator Taft
expressed these views in the LANCER
case in 1912. Others who shared his
views have pointed out that the Consti-
tutional Convention defeated a proposal
to give Congress authority to establish
additional qualifications and that Alex
ander Hamilton declared that the
standards laid down in the Constitution
are "unalterable.'
1t is also of interest to note that In
the unsuccessful effort to oust Senator
LANCER, who had been accused by
Senate committee Of numerous crimes
and misdemeanors sprior to election,
Southern Senators lined up in an almost
solid stand in defense of the right of
constituency to send whom 1t pleases to
Congress, just so long as the constitu-
tional qualifications for Office are COM
piled with.
Although the Senate admittedly has
full power to exclude a prospective
member for election fraud. and num-
ber have been so barred, it has yet to
use this power in a case involving the
right of Negroes to vote In an cleo
ton. The nearest approach to such
case arose in 1868. when Joshua Hill of
Georgia was challenged son the ground
that the Legislature which elected him
had expelled all its Negro members and
Installed certain 'disloyal persons"
The Senate debated the Hill charges
for more than three years 'and finally
dropped them when the Georgia Leg
islature readmitted the Negroes and
expelled the "disloyal" elements. A
somewhat similar case was presented in
1871 when Senator George Goldthwaite
of Alabama was challenged on the
ground that some members of the State
Legislature which sent him to WASH
ington had been elected through in
timidation of Negro voters. The Senate
decided it lacked authority to investi-
gate a State Legislature.
Mississippi itself figured in two post
Civil War senatorial controversies in
volving the right of newly elected MEM
bers to be seated. Both battles were
fought in 1870. The principal in one
was Senator Hiram r. Revels, a Negro,
who had been slave in his State be-
fore the war. The basis of the challenge
was a contention that Senator Reyels
was not qualified for membership In
that he had been citizen only two
years, viz, since ratification of the
fourteenth amendment. The Senate
decided that the amendment conferred
retroactive citizenship on emancipated
slaves, and he was admitted to the
chamber.
The other Mississippi case was that
of Senator Adelbert Ames, New Eng
lander, who was elected to the Senate
while serving as military governor OF
Mississippi. It was charged that he
was not an inhabitant of Mississippi
within the meaning Of the Constitu-
tion, but he argued that he had an
nounced, prior to election, his inten-
ton of making his home in Mississippi
The Senate voted to seat him.
Despite the contention Of Senator
Taft and others that the Senate must
Judge the qualifications of member
according to the age and residence
specifications Of the Constitution, the
Senate has excluded or expelled mem
bers for other reasons. During and
after the Civil War a number of South
erners or Southern sympathizers were
ousted or stopped "at the door" for
"disloyalty."
No Senator ever has been ex-
cluded Sor moral turpitude, however.
Senator Taft in discussing the charges
against Senator LANCER of gross inn