Milford chronicle., 1955-05-27

membership of our state courts is
distributed with proper recogni-
ton being given to each of the three
counties.
That is also true with the manner
in which our federal conrts were
established. For instance, in the
Third Circuit, comprising the states
of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsyl-
vania, and the Virgin Islands, the
seven judges were admittedly Sc
lected with consideration to geo.
graphic lines. The state of Del
aware, with less population than
Pennsylvania and New Jersey. was
still given one judge, and the Vir-
gin Islands, with even less popula-
! ton that Delaware (actually only
26,665), was likewise assigned one
judge in the Circuit Court. Four
years ago, at the time Mr.. William
Hastie, from the Virgin Islands,
was nominated to the Third Cir
cult Court this same argument OF
recognizing geographic distribution
was used by the Administration.
All of this consideration to geo.
graphy, both in our courts and in
the Legislative Branch, has been
with the thought that it would
thereby insure more equitable
representation of the people, and
| venture to say that if someone
dared propose that Delaware's rep
resentation on the Third Circuit
Court be transferred to some other
state there would be tremendous
objections from the Delaware Bar
Association.
On the other hand, in the state
of Delaware there has not been a
federal judge appointment from
either of the two lower counties
for the past eighty years.
This historical background ex-
plains my desire to have selected ii
possible a nominee from either Kent
or Sussex County to fill the exist
| ing vacancy in our federal courts
Naturally, there were three re-
| quirements that must be met before
any man could be considered:
(D The man selected must be
above reprOach as to his honesty
integrity, and moral background.
CD The man must be well-Quali-
fed and a man who can lend digni-
ty both to our federal courts and
to the state of Delaware; i. e., have
| the proper judicial temperament
as well as the proper qualifications
(3) The man selected must be a
member of the Republican Party
Two years ago when the present
administration took control. the
membership of our federal courts
was over ninety per cent Democra-
tic, and in Delaware one hundred
per cent was represented by that
political party.
With these three requirements
as a guide and not only with a list
of the available attorneys in Will
mington but also list which com
prised every Republican attorney
in both Kent and Sussex Counties
| sat down with prominent mem
bers of the Delaware Bar Associa-
ton and began eliminating the
names of those who for various
reasons might be considered unac-
ceptable. Some were automatically
eliminated as past the maximum
age requirements. Others were
dropped for various reasons, but
eventually we agreed upon a num-
ber one choice from each of the
three counties.
Before selecting these three men
we had conferred with many re-
| IL IL H.
state, asking their opinions and
recommendations. Frankly my maj
or problem was not in finding a
suitable nominee from each county
but rather in narrowing this choice
down to just one.
AS stated previously, I felt that
some preference should be given to
the lower counties and accordingly
submitted my recommendations to
the Attorney General. following
| which a routine F. B. l. check was
made. / was advised that their re-
port gave to this individual an un-
usually high rating as to his homes
| ty. integrity, and moral background
Likewise, they rated him very high
ly as to his possible judicial tenn
permanent. Therefore, / was greatly
surprised and disappointed when in
the face of this favorable report
this man was rejected with the only
excuse being given that the Bar AS
sociation had vetoed the nomina-
| ton.
Subsequently that veto was ex-
tended to include every Republican
attorney in both Kent and Sussex
| Counties.
The explanation as to why the
Bar Association vetoed these nomi-
nees direct to the Attorney General
after some of their membership had
participated in the selection was
that while they recognized them as