on the sandlots for $5 or $10 and maybe a case of beer. It was a grave injustice. It is not an inept analogy that you have drawn. Mr. BOWER. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any other witnesses who desire to make a presentation? Mr. DONAHUE. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Come forward, state your name, and be seated, sir. STATEMENT OF F. JOSEPH DONAHUE, FORMER PRESIDENT, BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Mr. DONAHUE. My name is F. Joseph Donahue. I have been a member of the local bar for 45 years. I was appointed President of the Board of Commissioners for the District of Columbia by President Truman. At that time Judge Hubert Pair was an assistant corporation counsel, and many, many times in the days I served as Commissioner I had the necessity and pleasure of calling on him for advice and help. I don't want to talk about his qualifications because they certainly are well engraved in the record. The Congress has given us a new judicial system. You have enormously expanded the responsibility of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. It, to me, is tremendously important that at least in the first few years the first 5 years will be critical-in determining the caliber and the direction of this newly constituted District of Columbia Court of Appeals. As a member of the bar for 45 years, I am tremendously concerned that our District of Columbia Court of Appeals measure up to the standards of the highest court in the various States from which you gentlemen come. Therefore, I think it is enormously important that a man who knows the people of the District of Columbia, who knows the laws of the District of Columbia, who has argued more than 300 appellate cases in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, that he, and the wisdom which comes with his age, be permitted to make that contribution, particularly for the first 5 years of the life of this new court, I could not let the opportunity pass without saying I once served in the Department of Justice. I have an enormous respect for the ability of Judge Yeagley. I think we are enormously pleased at the bar that a man of his ability should also add his measure of experience to the development and growth of this new court. Just a moment ago, my associate, when I was Commissioner, Renah F. Camalier, had to leave this room. At one time he served as counsel to this committee when Senator McCarran was chairman of the Senate District of Columbia Committee. He also served as an assistant U.S. attorney. He was my associate as a Commissioner, and he highly endorses Judge Hubert Pair's nomination. Thank you, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, sir. Give us your name, sir. Mr. COBB. My name is James W. Cobb. The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed. STATEMENT OF JAMES W. COBB, PRESIDENT-ELECT, NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION Mr. Cовв. My name is James W. Cobb. I am president-elect of the National Bar Association, which is a predominantly black national association for lawyers in this country. I am here to highly endorse the selection of Judge Pair as a member of this court of appeals. I happen to be a resident of the District of Columbia. I have lived here approximately 20-some years. I have known Mr. Pair intimately during these years, and I say to you he is a man's man, he is a lawyer's lawyer. Citizens of the District of Columbia would indeed be proud to have this nomination confirmed by the Senate. I would urge a speedy recommendation. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Cobb. Is there anyone else present who would like to make a statement with respect to the nominations before this committee? I wish to announce that all letters submitted on behalf of the two nominees will be included in the record of this hearing. (The letters follow:) Hon. THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Chairman, District of Columbia Committee, WASHINGTON, D.C., April 27, 1971. MY DEAR SENATOR: Many words of high commendation as to character and standing among friends and the legal profession, together with similar words as to ability and judicial temperament, could be said and written concerning the qualifications of Hubert B. Pair for appointment as an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. I trust this one letter encompasses all of the fine things to be said of Judge Pair, and I believe it does, and as a former Assistant United States Attorney, and one of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, serving under appointment by President Harry S. Truman, together with forty-odd years of practice before our Courts, I feel qualified to pass judgment on Judge Pair, whom I have known for many years. In fact, as Commissioner, I urged his appointment as Assistant Corporation Counsel, where he served with such distinction that my successors promoted him to the high office of Corporation Counsel. With this background, and an unsullied character and standing among all of the people of this City, Judge Pair's confirmation by the United States Senate cannot be but one of great service to the people and the Courts of the District of Columbia. His present service on the Bench of this Court is full evidence of his capabilities, and I heartily urge his approval by your Committee and confirmation by the Senate. With kindest regards, RENAH F. CAMALIER. NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION, Hon. THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Chairman, Senate District Committee, New Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR EAGLETON: It has been my pleasure to know the Honorable Hubert B. Pair for several years, both professionally and personally. Mr. Pair served the District of Columbia long and well first as an assistant corporation counsel and then as Acting Corporation Counsel. He brought to his position skills and techniques developed by years of devotion to the law and a humaneness that is needed on the bench. His ability to cut through legal jungles to get to the heart of a matter is amazing. He is a real student of the law and has an understanding of people. It is a pleasure for me to recommend Mr. Pair for appointment as Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Very truly yours, JAMES W. COBB, President-Elect. DORAN, MANION, BOYNTON & KAMM, ST. JOSEPH BANK BUILDING, Hon. THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia, DEAR SIR: Our local newspaper recently published a news story that J. Walter Yeagley had been nominated by the President for a position on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and that your Committee would in the near future hold a hearing on his qualifications for that office. The writer is now and has been an active practicing attorney in South Bend for the past fifty years, and was well acquainted with Walter from the time he started the practice of law in early 1930 until he joined the F.B.I. in early 1940. During that time he was associated in the practice of law with his now deceased father, John Yeagley. This firm had a large general practice and Walter developed into an excellent trial lawyer and always bore an impeccable reputation in the community and with the bar. During the years that Walter was practicing here, he, as well as myself. actively participated in the affairs of our local and state bar associations, and, in 1939, when I served as president of the St. Joseph County Bar Association. he was chairman of our board of directors, and he was most helpful in making that year a happy and rewarding one for me. The only differences I ever had with him or his father was over politics, but. as I look back, they always made these pleasant disagreements. My family, as well as myself, are and will continue to be active Democrats. Starting when I was fifteen I began taking polls for the Democratic party. Subsequently I was precinct committeeman and then, for a long time, I was county and district chairman. I have been elected a delegate to the State Democratic Convention continuously since the year 1922 and served as delegate to the National Convention on four occasions, and I still actively participate in party affairs. Notwithstanding the foregoing, I believe that Walter should have your Committee's approval, as I know he is eminently qualified and would make an excellent judge. Respectfully yours, M. E. DORAN. Washington, D.C., April 28, 1971. Hon. THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Chairman, Senate District Committee, DEAR SENATOR EAGLETON: I am pleased to recommend The Honorable Hubert B. Pair for confirmation as an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. I have known Judge Pair for more than twenty-five years and, prior to my appointment in July 1961 as a Commissioner of the District of Columbia. I was closely associated with him in civic and community activities. During his tenure in the Office of the Corporation Counsel which began in 1942 and ended in 1970. he served as trial attorney, Chief of the Appellate Division, Principal Assistant Corporation Counsel and, prior to his appointment to the bench, he was Acting Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia. Also, his appellate record was one that we all admired. In my capacity, first as a concerned citizen and then as one of its Commissioners, I have had an excellent opportunity to observe his unusual legal ability. integrity and judicial temperament. Because of his many outstanding contribu tions to this community and his established reputation in legal circles, I earnestly recommend him to you for your most favorable consideration. Sincerely yours, JOHN B. DUNCAN, General Consultant. STANFORD, REED & GELENIAN, Re Confirmation hearings on D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Hubert B. Pair THOMAS F. EAGLETON, U.S.S., United States Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR EAGLETON: The Senate District Committee will soon reopen hearings on the Confirmation of D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Hubert B. Pair. As an attorney, I have been in active trial practice before all of the trials and appeals courts for the District of Columbia since 1959. A substantial portion of my practice has been in matters of litigation which are reviewable by the D.C. Court of Appeals. I have also been an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the District of Columbia Government from 1959-61. In my employment with the office of the Corporation Counsel and in my contacts with that office since entering into private practice, I have had many opportunities to observe and acquaint myself with the qualifications of Judge Hubert B. Pair. I wish to endorse Judge Pair as an extremely qualified candidate as an associate Judge of the District of Columbia. Judge Pair has manifested great ability, thorough knowledge of laws and regulations, familiarity with District problems, and has the highest quality of judicial temperament and is a most highly qualified candidate for this position. He has the reputation among the practicing trial bar for being a fair though zealous enforcer of laws. He is also a tireless and dedicated worker. With the recent reorganization of the court system in the District of Columbia, Judge Pair will be a real asset to the fight against crime and the reduction of court delays and backlogs. My opinion of this has been formed by observations over many years of legal encounters with Judge Pair in his past position as Acting Corporation Counsel and as Chief of the Appellate Division of the Office of the Corporation Counsel of D.C. I can assure you that my opinions are shared by the other members of the Bar of the District of Columbia. Very truly yours, MILTON C. GELENIAN. Re Honorable J. Walter Yeagley UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, Chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I am advised that Walter Yeagley's nomination to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals is scheduled to come before your Committee on or about Tuesday, May 11th. It was my privilege to have known and observed Mr. Yeagley's practice and experience in the law beginning in 1934 when he was graduated (J.D.) from the University of Michigan Law School and joined the law office of his father, the late John G. Yeagley, in South Bend. It is hoped, therefore, that you will not consider this voluntary statement on my part inappropriate or out of order. For further purposes of identification, I have been a lifelong resident of Northern Indiana and was graduated from the Law School of the University of Notre Dame in 1930. During the years 1935 and 1936, I served as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for this County of St. Joseph and spent almost every day of those two years in the courtrooms of this community. In November 1938, the writer was elected to Congress from this District and served for five terms; then returned to this community to resume the practice of law until appointed to this district bench. With the aforementioned exceptions, I have, for the past forty years, been closely and actively associated with the practice of law in this area. The law practice of Walter Yeagley and his father was of a general nature— both civil and criminal-with much emphasis on corporate and estate matters, and constituted a prominent part of the general trial and appellate practice of this community. From my own personal knowledge and experience, I can say that Walter Yeagley was an active, diligent, and industrious member of the local Bar. Before leaving South Bend to join the FBI early in 1942, he had served for a year as vice president of our St. Joseph County Bar Association but, due to the last illness of the then president, he had been called upon to assume the actual duties of the presidency during most all of that year. The following year, he was elected president of our local Bar Association—a post which he held when he joined the FBI. The last important case which comes to mind in which Mr. Yeagley was actively involved in the courts here was United States v. General Motors. This was an important anti-trust prosecution which, as I recall, was tried in this District Court for over a period of a month or six weeks during the year 1939. The writer only recently had occasion to review some of that old record and was reminded of Mr. Yeagley's active participation therein. After joining the FBI, Mr. Yeagley was married in the City of Washington to Miss Dorothy Brown of Clayton, Missouri. Mrs. Grant and I were glad to serve as hosts at a small reception following the wedding ceremony. Walter Yeagley's government service in highly responsible positions of trust since he left South Bend is a matter of record and is certainly well known to your Committee. His early industrious and diligent application to the law and his prominence as a leader in legal circles in the State and Federal Courts in this Northern Indiana area, instill in me the utmost confidence that he will make a valued addition to the Federal Judiciary. Respectfully, ROBERT A. GRANT, Chief Judge. HOGAN & HARTSON, Washington, D.C., April 27, 1971. Hon. THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Chairman of the Senate District Committee, DEAR SENATOR EAGLETON: I have served on the Committee of Admissions and Grievances of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for more than 35 years. My close association with Judge Pair began in August 1965 when he was appointed by the Court to serve on that Committee. He continued to serve with distinction on the Committee until his appointment to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals where he is now serving a recess appointment. During the years we served on the Committee I found Judge Pair to be a lawyer of exceptional competence and his views on matters coming before the Committee were always respected and carefully considered by the other members. It is my opinion after more than 50 years of practice before the courts that one of the most, if not the most important qualification for a judge is so-called "judicial temperament." By judicial temperament I mean the ability to conduct his court in such a manner that all parties, both winner and loser, will feel that they have received a fair and impartial trial. Judge Pair is, beyond question, exceptionally well qualified in this respect. I am confident that there is general agreement among his fellow judges and the lawyers who have appeared before him that Judge Pair by his work on the Court during his recess appointment has demonstrated his competence and ability as a judge. I sincerely hope that your Committee will recommend confirmation of Judge Pair and I believe in making this request I am expressing the sentiments of the entire District of Columbia Bar. Yours very respectfully, EDMUND L. JONES. |