Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-06-16

California are reported ready to
action on civil rights bill that
: Mr.. Knowland. the Senate
are cast as possible rivals for the
nation. Both appear to believe Il
to the man who gets it If they
can get the Republicans credited
with passing a civil rights bill.
The Knowland- Nixon strategy
calls for q move by the Senator
as soon as a House-approved bill
actually reaches the Senate
probably Tuesday-to keep it
from going to the Judiciary
Committee. The latter group thus
far has bottled up similar legis-
lation.
This shortcut could be accom-
plished either by an objection
by Mr.. Knowland to the bills
reference to committee or by a
motion to put the measure on the
Senate's calendar. Under the
Senate's rules. this would require
some expert timing by Mr.. Know
land.
But before Senator Knowland
could make any move, he would
first have to be recognized by
Mr.. Nixon in the later's role as
presiding officer. And, if a point
Of order were raised, Mr.. Nixon's
ruling would have some influence
on the result.
Javits to Join Action
Fifteen Democratic Senators.
headed by Douglas of Illinois, al
ready have announced they will
vote to keep the House bill in
the Senate without committee
consideration of it. Senator
Javits. Republican of New York,
said he wanted to be associated
with them in that move.
Southern opponents of the bill
have privately come to the co1.-
clusion that. with Senator Know
land spearheading the drive and
Vice President Nixon presiding.
they are facing defeat in their
efforts to keep the measure bot
tied up.
Because Of the parliamentary
situation. the Southerners can
not hope to f1libuster the pre-
liminary move. Debate can be
shut OF by a motion to table.
The real battle will come when
a move is made to take the
House bill of the calendar and
bring it before the Senate for
voting. A filibuster then can
only be broken if 81 Senators
vote to limit debate.
Once the bill is actually be-
fore the Senate. a second filibus-
ter can only be stopped by a
similar 64-vote approval of de-
bate limitation. If these two
hurdles are surmounted. there
IS no question of Senate approval
Of the bill.
Precedent in Prospect
If it puts the House bill di-
rectly on its calendar, the Senate
will be stepping toward a new
precedent.
Not for nine years has the
Senate debated the issue of
whether a House bill can be
taken up without reference to a
Senate committee. Under its an
Gent Rule IA, Sheridan Downey.
then Democratic Senator from
California. caught opponents
mapping and got Tidelands bill
put directly on the Senate's
calendar on May 4, 1948.
Senator Fullbright. Democrat
OF Arkansas, tried the same
maneuver the following day on
an oleomargarine bill. But he
ran into a contention that the
Legislative Reorganization Act
which requires the presiding
officer to assign House bills to
a Senate committee without de-
bate-had superseded rule IA.
Mr.. Fulbright lost on 57-26
vote.
Mr.. Knowland and some other
Republicans who argued then
against bypassing a Senate COM
mittee are likely to have their
l948 words recited to them in
their contemplated effort to de-
tour the Judiciary group.
Mr.. Knowland told his COL
leagues in l948 that any general
application Of Rule IA would
obviously lead to chaos" Sena-
to Saltonstall of Massachu-
sets, now chairman Of the con-
ference Of all @. o. p. Senators.
said the effort to steer around
committee may be a very
dangerous proceeding"
Fulbright To Meet Opposition
Thirteen other Republicans
still in the Senate sided against
Mr.. Fulbright's move TO put the