Opinion ID: 1546019
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Adequacy of the Oath.

Text: The first contention is that Senator Nye had no authority to administer the oath resulting in the testimony of appellant. The main argument favoring this contention is as follows: That the statute (USCA title 4, § 7) requires that all offices attached to the seat of government shall be exercised in the District of Columbia, and not elsewhere, except as otherwise expressly provided by law; that the Congress and its committees are within the above statutory expression offices attached to the seat of government; that a resolution of a single house of Congress is not a law as provided by the statute; that, therefore, no authority existed in the committee under Resolution 215 to act outside the District of Columbia, and hence the oath administered by Senator Nye to appellant at Lincoln was without authority. Assuming, without examining or deciding, that the Congress and the committees of either or both houses are within the above statute, this contention is unsound because either house has the constitutional power to conduct separate investigations for proper purposes, and the Congress has no authority to limit the future exercise of that constitutional power. The power exists as auxiliary to its express powers, being necessary and appropriate to make the express powers effective (Sinclair v. United States, 279 U. S. 263, 291, 49 S. Ct. 268, 271, 73 L. Ed. 692; McGrain v. Dougherty, 273 U. S. 135, 160-176, 47 S. Ct. 319, 71 L. Ed. 580, 50 A. L. R. 1; In re Chapman, 166 U. S. 661, 671, 672, 17 S. Ct. 677, 41 L. Ed. 1154). The inability of Congress to limit the future exercise of such constitutional power is certain (Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U. S. 125, 55 S. Ct. 375, 79 L. Ed. ___, decided Feb. 4, 1935; Reichelderfer v. Quinn, 287 U. S. 315, 318, 53 S. Ct. 177, 77 L. Ed. 331; Sinclair v. United States, 279 U. S. 263, 295, 49 S. Ct. 268, 73 L. Ed. 692; McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U. S. 135, 172, 47 S. Ct. 319, 71 L. Ed. 580, 50 A. L. R. 1; Burton v. United States, 202 U. S. 344, 369, 26 S. Ct. 688, 50 L. Ed. 1057, 6 Ann. Cas. 362; In re Chapman, 166 U. S. 661, 671-672, 17 S. Ct. 677, 41 L. Ed. 1154, and see, for same principle applied to state Legislatures, Pierce Oil Corp. v. City of Hope, 248 U. S. 498, 501, 39 S. Ct. 172, 63 L. Ed. 381; Texas & N. O. R. R. Co. v. Miller, 221 U. S. 408, 414, 31 S. Ct. 534, 55 L. Ed. 789; Connecticut Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Spratley, 172 U. S. 602, 621, 19 S. Ct. 308, 43 L. Ed. 569; Newton v. Mahoning County, 100 U. S. 548, 559, 25 L. Ed. 710). Resolution 215 was an appropriate method of exercising such power, and it expressly provided the methods of such exercise, one of which was that such hearings could be held outside the District of Columbia.