Federal Security Agency: Office of the Administrator, penalty mail. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY-MILITARY FUNCTIONS 175, 300, 000. 00 O 80TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session } { REPORT No. 1619 PROVIDING FOR THE REVIEW OF CERTAIN ORDERS OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION AND THE UNITED STATES MARITIME COMMISSION MARCH 30, 1948.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. HOBBS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 1468) The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1468) to provide for the review of certain orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission and the United States Maritime Commission and giving the United States courts of appeals jurisdiction on review to enjoin, set aside, or suspend such orders, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments with the recommendation that as amended the bill do pass. The committee amendments are as follows: 1. Page 3, line 20, after the word "and" delete the remainder of the line and all of line 21, inserting in lieu thereof the following: the applicable remedies shall be those that would apply but for this Act. 2. Page 4, line 11, delete "Commission" and insert "United States". 3. Page 5, line 1, delete "Commission" and insert "United States". 4. Page 5, line 6, delete "Commission" and insert "United States". 5. Page 5, line 8, delete "PROCEEDING” and insert "CONFERENCE". 6. Page 5, line 9, delete "proceeding" and insert "conference". 7. Page 5, line 10, delete "proceeding" and insert "conference". 8. Page 5, line 21, delete "Commission" and insert "United States". 9. Page 6, strike out lines 23, 24, and 25, and, on page 7, strike out lines 1 to 14, inclusive, and insert in lieu thereof the following: SEC. 8. REPRESENTATION IN PROCEEDING-INTERVENTION.-The Attorney General shall be responsible for and have charge and control of the interests of the Government in all court proceedings authorized by this Act. The Commission, and any party or parties in interest in the proceeding before the Commission whose interests will be affected if an order of the Commission is or is not enjoined, set aside, or suspended, may intervene as of right and be represented by counsel in a proceeding to review such order. Communities, associations, corporations, firms, and individuals whose interests are affected by an order of the Commission may intervene in any proceeding to review such order. The Attorney General shall not dispose of or discontinue said proceeding to review over the objection of such party or intervenors aforesaid, but said intervenor or intervenors may prosecute, defend, or continue said proceeding unaffected by the action or nonaction of the Attorney General therein. 10. Page 10, line 11, after the word "prehearing" insert "conference". 11. Page 10, at the end of line 14, change the period to a colon and add: Provided, however, That such rules shall be approved by the Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges. Amendments numbered 1, 5, 6, 7, and 10 are made for purposes of clarification only. Amendments numbered 2, 3, 4, 8, and 9 are designed to retain the present law which has been in effect since June 18, 1910, and which places the control of the interests of the Government in litigation arising under the interstate commerce laws in the Attorney General. Amendment numbered 11 provides that the rules governing practice and procedure promulgated by the circuit courts of appeals under this act shall be approved by the Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges. HISTORY This bill had its origin in a request made by the late Chief Justice Stone that the Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges make a study of the procedure and review of administrative orders under the Urgent Deficiencies Act, with a view to recommending new legislation. He called attention to the fact that from decisions of the three-judge statutory district courts under the Urgent Deficiencies Act, appeal could be taken, as of right, directly to the Supreme Court, which compelled that Court to review many cases where the questions involved were of minor importance, thus adding heavily to the burden of the Supreme Court. He, therefore, suggested that the Supreme Court be relieved of that superadded burden. Accordingly, the Committee of the Judicial Conference was created in 1942. It included, as its Chairman, Judge Orie L. Phillips, Senior Circuit Judge of the Tenth Circuit; Commissioner, now Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Clyde B. Aitchison; and certain circuit and district judges; with whom sat and collaborated the general counsel of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Solicitor of the Department of Agriculture, the general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission, attorneys for the United States Maritime Commission, and the Solicitor General. This committee worked for 4 years, doing remarkably thorough research into the practice and review procedure of every one of the agencies affected, through the Supreme Court. Judge Phillips' committee sent out many tentative drafts of the proposed pieces of legislation to the circuit and district court judges and to practitioners before the administrative bodies. It received all the advice and help it could. The final result was three bills-H. R. 1468, H. R. 1470, and H. R. 2271. These were the fruit of the committee's considered judgment and were each approved by the committee, by the Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, by every one of the judicial councils except one which did not reply, and by a large number of practitioners and other interested parties. The only group of practitioners which did not entirely approve all three bills objected only to H. R. 1468. They preferred the old three-judge district court. practice prescribed by the Urgent Deficiencies Act of 1913 giving direct appeal to the Supreme Court as a matter of right, rather than the procedure prescribed by H. R. 1468, to wit, appeal in most cases from the decision of the agency, on the record therein made, to the circuit court of appeals and certiorari from the decision of the circuit court of appeals to the Supreme Court as in other cases of certiorari. In accordance with Chief Justice Stone's initial suggestion of need, it seemed obvious to Judge Phillips' committee that the situation now prevailing in the Supreme Court should be remedied by providing for review in that court upon certiorari and certification under sections 239 and 240 of the Judicial Code. The underlying reason for this conclusion was that this procedure was in keeping with the tradition in our judicial system, assuring a litigant an appeal as of right to some appellate court of real review. The objectives of the three bills presented by Judge Phillips' committee were— 1. Relief of the Supreme Court by substituting certiorari for direct appeal, and 2. Creating appeal and full review in a regular three-judge circuit court of appeals for review by a special three-judge district court composed of two district judges and one circuit judge. In most cases these objectives were attained by providing review on the record made by the administrative agency, plus remand to the agency for more evidence where it was shown to be material and excusably not introduced initially. WHAT H. R. 1468 DOES 1. Provides a simple, fair, clear venue provision instead of one hardly understandable. Here venue is fixed in the circuit wherein the party or one of the parties, filing a petition for review, resides or has a principal place of business, or in the District of Columbia. In considering this change it should be borne in mind that frequently the initial movement needs no review-he may have won his case, or otherwise become satisfied; and the right of all persons interested to intervene has been preserved. 2. Provides review of Interstate Commerce Commission and Maritime Commission orders made after hearings and preparation of the record by the circuit court of appeals; the remainder of cases wherein no record is made, by the old three-judge district courts. 3. A detailed and specific memorandum of the coverage of H. R. 1468, prepared by Hon. Leland Tolman of the staff of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, is as follows: H. R. 1468 This bill is designed to change the method of review of certain orders of the ICC and the Maritime Commission. If it is enacted it will abolish jurisdiction of the district courts and the convening of district courts of three judges in the cases to which it will apply, substituting for this a direct appeal from the commission to the circuit court of appeals upon the record made before the Commis H. Repts., 80-2, vol. 283 |