Milford chronicle., 1955-05-27
Sen. Williams Charges
The Bar Vetoed
Judge Choice
fContinued from first page)

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81 am not interested in being
party to any farce wherein |
would be claiming credit for an ap-
pointment in which l had nothing
to say" the Senator said.
The full text of Senator Williams
statement, as released to the Mil
ford Chronicle, follows.
In February 1854 Congress pass
ed law adding one extra judge to
the Federal Judicial District COM
prising the state of Delaware, and
/ was asked by Attorney General
Brownell to submit a recommends
ton to fill the vacancy.
/ would not have accepted this
assignment had l understood in the
beginning that there had been dele
gated to the Bar Association ex-
elusive veto power over all nomi-
nees. Certainly l expected TO con-
fer with the Bar Association in
Delaware as we'll as with other in
terested parties, but as it developed,
| discovered that the sole extent of
my authority in connection with
naming a judge was that / could
announce to the Delaware press the
name agreed upon by the Bar AssO-
citation and the Attorney General
of the United States and indicate
that / had appointed Mr.. X as a
judge, when in reality my views
had not even been considered.
fatty refused to participate in any
such farce and on January 10, 1865,
notified the Attorney General ac-
cordingly.
Indirectly l hear that the Attor-
ney General and the Bar Associa-
tion are about to agree upon a nom
inee to fill this vacancy and that
they will announce their decision
soon.
In view of the developments this
appointment has taken and recog-
nizing that many in our state
thought that / would be having
something to say toward this selec-
tion, / think the whole procedure
in regards to this appointment
should be placed on record.
My first action in this connection
was to ask a representative group
of the Delaware Bar Association to
submit the names of three attOr-
neys whom they felt best qualified
to sit on the federal bench. In COM
piling this list, i requested that
they include one man from each of
| the. three counties along with a
recommendation as to their first,
second, and third choice. Naturally
l was not delegating to the Bar As
sociation the appointive power, but
/ did appreciate their cooperating
| in making these recommendations
The state of Delaware, which has
only three counties, comprises one
of the eighty-six judicial districts
and has had but two federal judges
until recently, when as a result of
a new law passed by the last Con-
gress the number was increased to
three full-time members of the
court.
Now that we shall have three fed
eral judges | felt that it was only
fair that the lower counties be Civ
en- some consideration in the selec-
ton. At no time have / indicated
any preference as to which of these
two counties should have priority,
and while / have made recommen-
datiOns as to certain individuals
whom l consider to have all the
qualifications necessary to make
good judges, even then l have not
insisted that the appointment be
certain man and no one else. Many
of the most substantial citizens in
the two lower counties have urged
that this appointment come from
downstate in order that they might
have someone on the federal courts
familiar with their problems. Sure
ly with only three counties in our
state they were not being unreason-
able in wanting to select one judge
from their area. This certainly does
not mean that l or anyone else
questions the fact but that Will
mington does have many well-quali-
fed attorneys available for this po-
sition.
Some argument has been raised
that the question of the geographic
location of the applicant should not
be considered in the selection of a
federal judge. but in answer to that
argument point out that our whole
principle of government, in both
the Legislative and Judicial Bran
ches, was established by our fore
fathers with consideration being
given to geographic distribution.
This policy has been a part of our
system of government since the
adoption of the Constitution.
Our own state constitution gives
similar recognition to the geogra-
phic distribution in the selection of
the membership of both houses of
our state legislature. Likewise, the