critical areas to which I have been addressing myself. If the parties who appear before him are to have the right to a fair hearing and a just decision, his independence must be preserved and his impartiality assured.

My fear, indeed my conviction, is that the critical provisions of S.262 and S.755 that I oppose would produce results contrary to these objectives, and would constitute a retreat from the standards in the Administrative Procedure Act. My further fear is that the provisions to which I have expressed objection would make the position of Administrative Law Judge far less attractive to the kind of lawyers, both in and out of government, who must be attracted to be ALJs if aspirations for the preservation of administrative justice are

to be realized.

There is much that is good in the current situation of administrative justice. Our ALJs must pass the stiffest entrance examination imposed anywhere in our American judicial system. Having passed that examination and achieved appointment, they are entitled to career tenure, to be interrupted only when there is proven malfeasance or non feasance in office. They deserve to be paid on a level more closely approximating that of our courts of record which today are unconscionably low. They merit adequate office space, adequate auxiliary help, and other physical facilities consistent with their important and sensitive duties; and their decisions, like those of our United

States District Judges, must be final unless reversed by a higher court, in this case, the agency itself.

I am confident that it will

I applaud the objectives of the Committee, its eager search for the varying views of all interested parties. I have no concern that the members of the Committee and their respective staffs will not carefully consider the testimony and the written submissions. continue to be the aim of this Committee, and of the Congress, so to elevate the status of the Administrative Law Judge that no litigant or lawyer will approach an administrative proceeding with anything other than confidence that his cause will receive a fair, intelligent, objective, and perhaps more important, fair and impartial hearing.

I reiterate my appreciation for the invitation to

me to make this presentation.

APPENDIX

(Partial biographical data)

The following include only activities at the federal level, and only those having relation to the Statement submitted to the Committee.

Committee on the Administrative Procedure Act (1944-46); Chairman, Commission on Judicial and Congressional Salaries (created by the 83d Congress) by appointment of President Eisenhower (1953-55); Chairman, American Bar Association (hereafter ABA) Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary (1956-62); Chairman, Board of Directors of American Judicature Society Council (1958-61); Treasurer, then Second Vice President (1955-76), now First Vice President (1976- ) of American Law Institute; Charter Member, Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Judicial Conference of the United States, by appointment of Chief Justices Warren and Burger (1959-77); Executive Committee, Attorney General's National Conference on Court Congestion and Delay in Litigation, by appointment of Attorneys General Brownell and Rogers (1958-61); ABA Committee to Improve the Federal Administrative Process; Chairman, ABA Standing Committee on Judicial Selection, Tenure and Compensation (1963–68); Council, ABA Section on Judicial Administration (now Division) (1963-68), of which the Conference of Administrative Law

Judges is a constituent; Board of Regents (1956- ) and President of American College of Trial Lawyers (1964-65); Board of Fellows of Institute of Judicial Administration (1968- ); Joint Committee for the Effective Administration of Justice of the Judicial Conference of the United States (1962-64); Administrative Conference of the United States (1968-74); President of the American Bar Association (1969-70); Committee to Study the Workload of the Supreme Court, by appointment of Chief Justice Burger (1971-73); Commission on Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Salaries (created by the 90th Congress), by appointment of Vice President Agnew (1972-73); Commission on Revision of the Federal Court Appellate System (created by the 92d Congress), by appointment of Chief Justice Burger (1973-75); Commission on Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Salaries, by appointment of Vice President Rockefeller (1976-77); President, American Bar Foundation (1976-78).

Senator MATHIAS. We will now ask Mr. Kintner, Professor Rosenblum, Mr. Miller and Mr. Fanning and Mr. Ross and Judge Liebman to come to the witness table as a panel.

TESTIMONY OF EARL W. KINTNER, ESQ., OF ARENT, FOX, KINTNER, PLOTKIN & KAHN, WASHINGTON, D.C.; VICTOR G. ROSENBLUM, PROFESSOR OF LAW, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW; AND JOHN H. FANNING, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

Senator MATHIAS. Mr. Kintner?

Mr. KINTNER. Thank you, Senator.

I have attached to my statement the biographical data which was requested, and I will supply that to the committee.

Senator MATHIAS. The committee is well aware of your curricula vitae, but we will be glad to have anything you want to add for the record.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Kintner follows:]