The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-07-16
AN OPEN LETTER
10 A Constitutional LAWYER

last April he said it would be unWiSe for him
to have. Personally. 1 feel that it would be
just as unconstitutional for the Congress to at
tempt to confer that power on the President
as it would be unwise for it to do so. But. as
one of the States outstanding constitutional
lawyers it is on the subject of constitution
atty that I desire an expression of your
views. There can be no doubt about the fact
that the trainers of the Presidents omnibus
bill intended to confer upon him the power to
withhold Federal funds from a State upon a
charge of discrimination made either by him
or any buleaucrat to whom he may see fit
to delegate that power. And, that is the way
I interpret the section.
However. to keep, I assume. from shocking
the conscience of the American public by the
request Of such dictatorial powers, the franz
ers of S. 1871 used these weasel and camou-
flaged words, commencing as follows Not
WithStanding any provision to the contrary in
any law Of the United States providing or au-
thorizing direct indirect financial assis-
lance for or in connection with any program
or activity by way of grant, contract. loan,
Insurance. guaranty. or otherwise no such
law shall be interpreted as requiring that such
financial assistance shall be furnished etc.
Existing laws provide that certain funds
such as road funds, for instance, shall be dis
trlbuted to all states on the basis of estab-
lshed formulas. Likewise existing laws au-
thorize the guaranty of home loans and the
insurance of deposits in banks and other fl
nancial institutions. Existing laws also provide
for grants for the construction of hospitals,
etc. In other words, there is absolutely moth
ing that the Federal government does involv-
ing either the payment of funds to state or
some political subdivision or any insurance or
guaranty program that is not covered by Sec
tsnv Elo- :~,ck
or the Director of the Bureau of Public Roads
could deny all road money to Virginia or Dr.
Weaver could deny FILA insurance or the
chairman Of the FDICK could deny inslr-
ance to all banks and savings and loan as
SOclatiOns in Virginia on a simple charge
that someone who applied to one of those fl
nancial institutions for loan had been de-
MED it on the ground Of the applicants color
And, OF course. the President or one of his
subordinates who took that action would be
the sole judge of the truth of the allegation
and the sole judge Of the measure Of the
penalty to be imposed. Nowhere in the sec
ton is any judicial relief or trial by jury on
the issue OF facts to be provided for any one
My question to you. therefore, as an out
standing constitutional lawyer. is, under what
constitutional authority can the Congress pass
law of that kind?
Interpretation of what the real meaning of the
language in question is, please give me your
Interpretation of the meaning and then dis
cuss the constitutional aspects of such an in
depreciation.
hope you will not feel that during your
vacation period this request is an imposition,
because after all. you are the head not only
OF great law school. but the law school of
what. IN my opinion, is one of the truly great
universities OF the nation. dedicated to the
memory OF our greatest political philosopher,
Thomas jefferson
Therefore. feel that you not only will be
doing me favor. but doing your university.
and your native state. favor, if you will
give me the benefit Of your constitutional
knowledge on this legal point.
With kind personal regards, am
Sincerely yours,
A. Willis Robertson