Evening star., 1948-03-19

opposition OF ABA
| To District Court
Nominee Is Heard
The disputed nomination Of Ed
ward A. Tamm, FBI official, to be a
District Court justice will come be-
fore Senate Judiciary Subcom-
mittee at another hearing at Z pm.
Tuesday.
Senator Donnell, Republican, of
Missouri subcommittee chairman.
announced at the close Of q three
and-a-half-hour session last night
that at least one more hearing will
be necessary. The nomination has
been before the Senate since Febru-
ary.
Seven more witnesses remain to
be heard, he announced. He reached
this figure by q roll call of those
attending.
Opposition Of the American Bar
Association was reiterated last night
by John j. Carmody, washington
attorney, who is a member of the
ABA special committee on the judi
ciary. The District Bar Association
also plans to continue its attack on
Mr.. Tamm by putting on the stand
its president, George E. Mcneil.
Qualifications CHALLENGED.
Both groups contend the nomi-
nee has not had enough actual law
practice to qualify him for the
bench. Mr.. Tamm has been strongly
supported by three Senators, Attor-
ney General Clark and FBI Director
]. Edgar Hoover.
Five witnesses were heard last
night. They included Mr.. Tamm,
who was questioned at length by
Senator Donnell, largely about the
nominees admission to the Mimi
esota bar.
James J. Laughlin, Washington
attorney, indorsed the nominee and
launched into criticism of the Dis
trict Courts Committee on Admis-
sions and Grievances. Opposing Mr..
Tamm were Mr.. Carmody, Ernest
F. Henry, attorney, who filed reso-
luton for the Petworth Citizens
Association, and Prescott bennett,
former defendant in the mass sedi-
ton case which was dismissed in
District Court. Mr.. bennett charged
the FBI has never returned records
belonging to him and seized before
the trial.
MIR. Laughlin said he does not know
MIR. Tamm personally, but that he
recommends him for the bench
on the basis of his experience. The
witness proposed, however, that, If
the nominee is confirmed, he be
assigned for at least his first year
TO the civil branch of the District
Court to enable him to become ia.
miliar with procedure.
Urges Fee System Change.
Mr.. Laughlin digressed from the
subject of the hearing to urge that
ices charged applicants for the bar
examination should 70 to the
United States Treasury instead of
into a fund handled by the courts
Committee on Admissions and
Grievances.
During one period, he said, be-
tween 1900 and 1900 applicants
paid SIS each to take the bar exam
nation. and members of the Ad-
missions Committee divided IN
that money" Income of the COM
mittee from fees, he said, was $1s,-
600 for just six months"
Walter c. Clephane, chairman OF
the committee, he said, has been
member of the group since the
Mckinley administration.
If all the money taken in bv
the committee had been turned into
the United States Treasury. ME-
Laughlin said, I'VE would have ha6
enough to pay for the new court
house"
Kilgore Studies Papers.
He filed with the COMMITTEES a
sheaf OF papers, said to be official
reports OF the firm which has au-
dited accounts of the Admissions
Committee. They covered the ne
Rod from September l, 1899. to
June 30. 1916. On this last date
the report showed the balance on
hand was $15,264.26.
Senator Kilgore, Democrat. of
west Virginia, who said he has been
trying to get some figures on finan-
cial operations Of the committee
for the last 10 years, examined the
records closely. He said afterwards
ne still hopes to find out where
the money went.
Mr.. Laughlin testified that only
between 40 and IS per cent of those
who take the bar examination pass
I've always felt there was some
thing wrong with the grading of
those papers and ought to be in
qulred into-whether they actually
did fail, or whether there was some
other motive" he declared.
Corporation Counsel Vernon T.
West, replying to similar charges
by Mr.. Laughlin recently, pointed
out that members of the committee
have been receiving fees only in
the past few years. Before that. he
said, they worked without pay of
any Kind. Out of the present fees.
he explained, must come all the ex-
penses OF the committee, including
its grievance work.
Dynamite Cap Experiment
Sends BoY 10 HospitaI