completed and the Court authorizes us to do so, to distribute copies to bar associations and members of the bench and bar individually throughout the country in order to get as wide consideration by the legal profession as possible, and to get criticisms and suggestions from all parts of the country. Mr. O'NEAL. After the work is completed, how is the matter to be handled from then on? How were the rules of civil procedure handled? Mr. HOLTZOFF. When the final draft shall have been completed, after receiving comments from the profession, we then submit the final draft to the Supreme Court for its consideration. The Supreme Court under the statute, has authority to prescribe the rules, and presumably it will make such changes and additions in the draft as it sees fit. After the Supreme Court adopts the rules, the statute requires that they be submitted to the Congress, through the Attorney General, on the opening day of a regular session of the Congress, and they will not take effect until after the termination of the session of the Congress at which they were submitted to the Congress. This was the procedure prescribed in connection with the civil rules of procedure, and it has also been prescribed by Congress in connection with the rules of criminal procedure. Mr. O'NEAL. Then you turn them over to the Printing Office for general distribution, and they are sold at prices prescribed to attorneys? Mr. HOLTZOFF. It was not contemplated that we would sell copies of these drafts, but the thought was that we would distribute them to bar associations and members of the bench and bar without cost, because we expect to receive their suggestions and criticisms. Mr. Justice ROBERTS. Those rules, when the necessary legislation has passed Congress, will be printed as an amendment to the Supreme Court Reports. They will also be printed in the West Publishing Co. and Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Co. reports, and they get circulation in that way. I do not think there is very much circulation from the Government Printing Office, because they go to the public through the regular legal channels. Mr. HENDRICKs. I want to ask you this question. You said you would distribute them, to the bar and to the profession generally, and Justice Roberts mentioned the fact that they are printed in your Supreme Court Reports. Mr. Justice ROBERTS. Yes. Mr. HENDRICKS. Do you mean you are going to send out a copy of these rules to each attorney throughout the country? Mr. HOLTZOFF. No; I was not referring to the rules after they will be adopted, but to the distribution of the preliminary draft and final drafts. We shall not send copies to every lawyer in the United States; that would be impossible, of course, because the expense would be prohibitive. But the senior circuit judge of each circuit has appointed an advisory committee in his circuit, and some district judges have done likewise for their districts, and our purpose is to send copies to each member of these committees, so that these committees will study these rules and make any criticisms or suggestions they deem wise. Most of these committees are composed of lawyers familiar with Federal practice. In addition we shall distribute these copies among bar association committees, judges, and other persons interested. Mr. HENDRICKS. When the rules are completed and printed, suppose an attorney in my district writes me for a copy of the rules. Will they be made available in the document room? Mr. HOLTZOFF. That would be in your discretion. You did that in connection with the rules of civil procedure, having had them printed as a House document. I think they were also sold by the Superintendent of Documents. Mr. HENDRICKS. If we had them in the document room here, would they also be available at the Government Printing Office? Mr. HOLTZOFF. It depends on what arrangements you make. I think they would be on sale by lawbook publishers. Mr. HENDRICKS. You mentioned the amount of $8,000 for traveling expenses. Where do you plan that the committees shall meet? Mr. HOLTZOFF. We have been holding meetings in Washington, but the last meeting, which was held last month, was held in New York, owing to the difficulty of getting hotel accommodations in this city, and the travel expense was not any greater for bringing the members to New York than it would have been to bring them to Washington. Mr. HENDRICKS. But you have to bring them from all over the country? Mr. HOLTZOFF. Yes; we do. Mr. Justice BLACK. That was made necessary because some of us insisted that there be as wide a distribution of these members of committees as possible, so we could get the views of lawyers from every section of the country. One of the advantages of having the preliminary draft published was shown at a Missouri Bar Association meeting last year when I was there. A member of the committee had the job of explaining the procedure. He talked to the bar association and gave them a discussion of the tentative plan suggested for the rules and asked for their criticisms to be sent in. That is the principal reason why the preliminary draft was distributed. Mr. HOLTZOFF. I have observed at the committee meetings that a great deal of benefit is derived from the fact that we have members from the different parts of the country, because we get factual data and points of view from the different points of the country that we could not get otherwise. Mr. WAGGAMAN. For the preparation of Rules for Civil Procedure there is a break-down therefor in the Budget of $15,800. Mr. O'NEAL. There is nothing there for 1944? Mr. WAGGAMAN. The explanation is this. We are not asking for any additional money, but, due to facts over which the chairman of the committee, Mr. Mitchell, has no control, and which are explained in a letter which I have at hand, he requests that the unexpended balance of the appropriation be reappropriated for next year, which would make it a 1943-44 appropriation instead of a 1942-43 appropriation as it is now. Mr. O'NEAL. Do I understand correctly that you want $14.950 of the 1944 appropriation made immediately available? Mr. WAGGAMAN. That amount was for the criminal rules. Mr. JUSTICE ROBERTS. This is in reference to the old committee. Mr. O'NEAL. The old committee would like to have the balance made available, or reappropriated for the coming year? What is the amount involved? Mr. WAGGAMAN. The amount of the appropriation was $15,800. Mr. O'NEAL. And you have $14,950 you would like to have reappropriated? Mr. WAGGAMAN. No, sir; the amount is $13,777.01. Mr. Mitchell, the former Attorney General of the United States, as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Rules for Civil Procedure, wrote me a letter under date of February 26, 1943, explaining why the work has not been completed. Mr. O'NEAL. The letter you have referred to may be inserted in the record. Mr. WAGGAMAN. The letter is as follows: ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON RULES FOR CIVIL PROCEDURE, Hon. THOMAS E. WAGGAMAN, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. MARSHAL: As chairman of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, I state the situation respecting appropriations by Congress for the Supreme Court to cover advisory committee expenses. In title III of the Sixth Supplemental National Defense Appropriation Act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1942, approved April 28, 1942, Congress appropriated $15 800 to be expended under the direction of the Supreme Court in connection with necessary changes in the rules. The representations made to the Appropriations Committee to support this appropriation were that it was needed for the purpose of preparing new rules governing condemnation cases instituted by the United States under the power of eminent domain, a subject not covered by the rules now in force. While that was the purpose of asking for the appropriation, the appropriation act did not by its terms limit the use of the appropriation to the preparation of condemnation rules, but the act allows the court to use the fund for any work involving proposed amendments to the rules. No part of that appropriation has been used for work in connection with condemnation rules. That is accounted for by the fact that the Department of Justice, which had asked that a condemnation rule be adopted, undertook to prepare condemnation rules in the first instance for consideration by the court and its advisory committee. Without going into details, it is enough to say that the rules proposed by the Department of Justice were not acceptable to the advisory committee. A subcommittee of the advisory committee has had this subject up with the Department of Justice, and steps are now being taken in an effort to prepare a draft of a set of rules which will be acceptable both to the advisory committee and to the Department of Justice. After that appropriation was made, the Supreme Court determined that the time had arrived for the advisory committee to review the existing rules, with a view to recommending amendments. That, of course, is a different matter than preparing a condemnation rule, and on December 14, 1942, the Court authorized the advisory committee to undertake this work of considering general amendments and authorized some limited expenditures to be made by the advisory committee for clerical and staff work in that connection. These expenditures, as so authorized, I assume will be charged against the appropriation referred to. At present, therefore, the advisory committee, at the direction of the Court, is considering both a condemnation rule and also the question of amendments to the rules in other respects, and funds must be kept available. The present appropriation will not be available after June 30, 1943, and the work will not be completed by that date, as the work of the advisory committee on both branches of the matter will be likely to continue as long as January 1, 1944, and possibly even later. I do not see any reason now to ask the Congress for the present to make any additional appropriation, as the $15,800 appropriation already made may be sufficient for the rest of this calendar year, and if and when it approaches exhaustion, steps then may be taken to obtain additional funds. It is necessary that the existing appropriation should be extended so as to be made available after June 30, 1943, and to avoid troubling the Congress again with it, I should suggest that it be made available until June 30, 1944. It seems to me appropriate to present this situation at the hearing on the regular appropriation bill before the subcommittee on appropriations of the House Ways and Means Committee. With personal regards, Very truly yours, WILLIAM D. MITCHELL. Mr. JUSTICE ROBERTS. In very brief summary, the committee has been asked to suggest amendments to civil rules which are now in effect, and the committee has been gathering data for the purpose of recommending possible amendments to those rules where they have not worked satisfactorily, and they will need some meetings to do that. Mr. O'NEAL. No new money is requested? Mr. JUSTICE ROBERTS. No; only a reappropriation of funds now available. PRINTING AND BINDING Mr. O'NEAL. The next item is for printing and binding, for which the appropriation for 1943 was $27,700, and the estimate for 1944 is $26 000, or a decrease of $1,700. Mr. Cropley, we would be very glad to have you explain this unusual circumstance of having a decrease in the estimate. Mr. CROPLEY. It is really not a decrease, Mr. Chairman, but actually an increase of $400. The amount appropriated for printing and binding for the Supreme Court for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1943, was $27,700, of which amount not to exceed $2,100 was made available immediately-act of July 2, 1942, Public Law 644, Seventy-seventh Congress, title IV-in order to meet the increased cost of printing the opinions of the Court incident to an amendment of the contract for the performance of that work approved by the Court on June 29, 1942. Pursuant to the authorization, $2,100 of the amount appropriated for the current fiscal year was used in the fiscal year 1942 for the purpose indicated, thus reducing the amount available for expenses properly chargeable against this item during the fiscal year 1943 to $25,600. The estimate presented through the Bureau of the Budget for printing and binding for the Supreme Court for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1944, is $26,000, an increase of $400 over the amount made available by appropriation for the present fiscal year. The need for the additional amount is explained and justified as follows: The principal expense paid from this item is the cost of printing the opinions of the Court. The work is performed under a flat-rate contract between the Court and a private printing office peculiarly qualified and equipped to perform this highly specialized and confidential printing. Authority to have the Court's work executed by such printer as it may designate is included in the appropriation acts each year. The present terms of the contract provide for compensag the printer at the rate of $19,600 per annum for the production of a specified edition of the opinions of the Court, and all costs and expenses incident to the performance of the contract obligation are absorbed by the printer. Additional payments are made annually to this printer for work performed which is not within the prescribed terms of the contract. The amount remaining of the sum appropriated each year, after the obligation of the opinion printing contract has been satisfied, is expended at the Government Printing Office in payment of the cost of other annually recurring items of normal printing and binding authorized by the Court. Due to increased charges made by the Government Printing Office for production of the same items it has not been possible to procure them within the amount appropriated. Consequently during the last 3 years a small portion of the Court's normal printing and binding requirements which were commenced under certain requisitions within 1 fiscal year had to be continued and completed under supplemental requisitions charging that portion of the cost which exceeded the amount of a particular year's appropriation against the appropriation for the following year. The extent to which it already has become necessary to encroach upon a subsequent year's appropriation to procure approximately the same items is as follows: Fiscal year 1940, excess cost $61.15; fiscal year 1941, excess cost $288.83; fiscal year 1942, excess cost $363.81. Excess cost of work performed under requisitions at the Government Printing Office equal to or larger than in 1942 is anticipated in the present fiscal year and the amount of such excess must be carried into the appropriation for the fiscal year 1944. It is to meet such increased cost that the additional sum of $400 is requested. The following statement shows the expenses incurred and those paid from the appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1942: Statement Amount originally appropriated for printing and binding for the fiscal Total amount of appropriation available for use during the Payments made under contract for printing opinions of Payments made to the Government Printing Office for miscellaneous work performed under requisitions. Obligation incurred for payment to the Government Printing Office for work performed in excess of the amount of the appropriation___ $23,500.00 2,100.00 25, 600.00 $21, 519. 60 4,080. 40 363.81 25, 963. 81 Obligation incurred in excess of the amount appropriated and 363.81 It is, therefore, urged that the committee increase the amount of to the extent of $400 and recommend the appropriation of |
