WYMAN, STARR, BOOTH, WADLEIGH & LANGDELL, I WILLIAM LANGER, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. CAR SIB: I write to you to record my endorsement of a constitutional amendwith reference to treaties and executive agreements which shall be worded Ustantially as in the form recommended by the American Bar Association. Lave been engaged in the general practice of law in New Hampshire for a *# over 50 years. I have read all of the literature and arguments relating Teates and executive agreements that I have been able to secure. I believe a proposed amendment is called for as an aid to the conservation of estrutional system. espectfully yours, LOUIS E. WYMAN. LOFTIN & WHAL, Jacksonville 1, Fla., February 16, 1953. State Joint Resolution 1, International Treaty Law. A WILIAM LANGER, - Arman, Senate Judiciary Committee, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: I understand that the Senate Judiciary Committee, under edership, proposes to begin hearings this week on the constitutional ent with respect to treaties and executive agreements; that there are a dozen varying texts before your committee. very much in favor of the proposal to limit the authority of the executive ment of the Government to make these international agreements. In the my judgment, many treaties and other international agreements have de which were not only contrary to the best interest of the country but were also in violation of the United States Constitution and some State teens. far a constitutional amendment to take care of this situation. While untredy the subject can be approached in a good many ways, I think an amend'substantially in the form as that recommended by the American Bar Assowould definitely alleviate all evils. merely trust your committee will report out such an amendment. kindest regards, I am Sincerely yours, SCOTT M. LOFTIN ER. WILLIAM LANGER, MOSTELLER, FELLERS, ANDREWS & LOVING, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. LAB SENATOR LANGER: It is my understanding that, as chairman of the Senate mary Committee, you are commencing hearings on a proposed constitutional cent dealing with treaties and executive agreements. As you know, the an Bar Association has devoted considerable time and attention to this Ter, utilizing the ability and capacity of particularly qualified members of ar as well as the considered judgment of members of its house of delegates. d appear that an amendment substantially in the form approved by the 1: Bar Association should merit a favorable reception by your committee, - know you will see to it that the views of the American bar are heard and the studied efforts of these constitutional lawyers receive appropriate con thoughtful leadership in connection with this important matter is greatly Very sincerely yours, JAMES D. FELLERS. Hon. WILLIAM LANGER, THE CHURCH PEACE UNION, New York 21, N. Y., February 16, 195 Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. It DEAR SIR: The enclosed is a copy of a resolution passed by the executive o mittee of the Church Peace Union protesting the Bricker resolution. voted May 21, 1952. Very truly yours, JOHN R. INMAN, Assistant Secretar RESOLUTION IN OPPOSITION TO SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 130, COMMONLY CAL THE BRICKER RESOLUTION The Church Peace Union records its opposition to Senate Joint Resolut 130, joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the Uni States relative to the making of treaties and executive agreements, commo called the Bricker resolution, for the following reasons: 1. The existing Constitution of the United States provides adequate safegua against the encroachment of treaties or executive agreements on the rights United States citizens. 2. Our Government, in order best to serve the national interest, must frequen participate with other nations in international organizations. Senate Joi Resolution 130 would prohibit many treaties of arbitration and conciliation whi must rely on commissions and tribunals of an international nature and wou nullify all agreements to refer disputes to the International Court of Justi Further, it would seriously jeopardize the formation or continued existence such international organizations as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a the United Nations. We strongly urge that the Congress, the President, and the courts of the Unit States hold uppermost the rights of the citizens of the United States togeth with the national interest and employ the existing constitutional machinery protecting both. Voted at executive committee meeting of the Church Peace Union May 21, 195 Senator SMITH. Mr. Chairman, I do not know what organization have protested except just the one you mentioned. It might be we to have Mr. Smithey check on the organizations that have proteste and those in favor, too. We might have some information there tha would be worth while. The CHAIRMAN. The staff will do that. Mr. Holman, maybe you and I can get together sometime in the nex day or two to see how we can expedite this matter and get it deter mined as rapidly as possible. Mr. HOLMAN. I am at your service, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You understand these matters are delayed and de layed and delayed and delayed, and this is a very important matter I want this Congress to act upon it. Mr. HOLMAN. I am at your service any time, sir. Senator SMITH. May I inquire, are the protests you mentioned, for the most part, on the principle of the proposed amendment or as to the form or language? The CHAIRMAN. They do not say. Mr. HOLMAN. Is there one protest? The CHAIRMAN. There is one protest. Senator SMITH. I can see that there can be many differences of opinion about the precise language to be used. I am not certain at all myself about that, a good many of us are not. The CHAIRMAN. We will give them a chance to be heard. They are mostly by rabbis and ministers. There is the Church Peace Union ร ded by Andrew Carnegie, and it does not say the year, the address h is 170 East 64th Street, New York City. Mr. HOLMAN. I think Senator Smith's point is very well taken. I you ought to check the nature of that organization, Mr. Chair Mr. SCHEIN. The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, conclusion of a long report, says that the Committee on Federal ation, and the Committee on International Law opposes the proconstitutional amendment Senate Joint Resolution 130 out of this has grown. Mr. HOLMAN. And that is the only bar association in the United that today has taken any official action against it, sir. V HATCH. By a very small attendance of the membership, I think 5 percent. CHAIRMAN. Tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock we will hear Mr. tre Pearson and Mr. Dana Backus, of the Association of the the City of New York; also Mrs. Enid Griswold, of the National Lic Council; Mrs. Lucas, of the Daughters of the American tion; and Mrs. Merwyn Fenner and Mr. Frank Goldman, of . Brith; and Rev. D. M. Scott, of the American Council of ChrisChurches of California. That is at 10 o'clock in the morning. of them are here now they will take notice that we will meet y at 10 o'clock. here anybody here who wants to be heard who has not been heard V. SCHWEPPE. Yes. TCHAIRMAN. All right, we will keep right on going. V. SMITHEY. This is Mr. Schweppe. CHAIRMAN. I understood you did not want to be heard because .wanted to redraft that resolution. M HOLMAN. NO; we want to be heard so as to get it before you, sir. CHAIRMAN. All right, sit right up here, if you will. You may - all the time you want. Do not hurry at all, we have a lot of TATEMENT OF ALFRED J. SCHWEPPE, SEATTLE, WASH., CHAIRYAN. COMMITTEE ON PEACE AND LAW THROUGH THE UNITED IATIONS OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SCHWEPPE. My name is Alfred John Schweppe, of Seattle, aking as chairman of the American Bar Association's committee ace and law through United Nations, I appreciate the invita-ended to the members of this committee to be here today. All embers of this committee, except United States circuit judge --L Phillips, who is unavoidably detained, are, or will be, present bearing today or tomorrow, in order to be of such assistance -United States Senate as we may be in considering the subject of this important Senate Joint Resolution No. 1, introduced by For Bricker, of Ohio, with some 60 Senators as cosponsors, on and executive agreements, and other proposals on the same ts, including those of the American Bar Association. Our position has already been to a considerable extent outlined last year's 540-page volume of Senate hearings on treaties and ex utive agreements (S. J. Res. 130, May-June, 1952); and whate we said then we incorporate here by reference. For the record, the American Bar Association comprises appr mately 50,000 lawyers of the United States, and in its makeup rep sents, so nearly as may be, the entire organized bar of the Un States. The house of delegates of the American Bar Associat which is its governing body, comprising several hundred memb is made up (1) of representatives of the members of the Ameri bar from each of the 48 States and the Territories; (2) of represe tives of all of the State and the principal city bar associations in United States; and (3) of representatives of other leading law orga zations, such as the American Law Institute and the American Jud ture Society. The American Bar Association has, for its objectives, the protect of the Constitution of the United States, the maintenance of pe through law, and the improvement of the administration of just in all its phases. The resolutions of the house of delegates are adopted only af careful study by committees and such discussion and debate as subject matter requires. The resolutions of the house of delegates are the official action the American Bar Association. The association, as such, speaks o by formal action of its house of delegates, just as does the Unit Sates Senate. Hence, in this hearing today, except insofar as I p sent official resolutions of the house of delegates of the American E Association, relating to the subject matter of the hearing, I—and th applies to other members of our committee-do not speak for t American Bar Association, as such, but solely as an individual me ber of the committee on peace and law, which, by reason of havi made extended studies and reports in this field, has some moderate informed views on the subject. The CHAIRMAN. Who does speak for American Bar Association? Mr. SCHWEPPE. The house of delegates, and I will present its res lution. The CHAIRMAN. Do you want to have anybody here representi them? Mr. SCHWEPPE. Yes; we represent them. The CHAIRMAN. I thought you said you were giving your individu views, Mr. SonwErrn. I said we represent the American Bar Associati house of delegates as its official spokesmen, and we will present i resolution. The comments which we make will be individual con ments. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, sir. Senator WATKINS. The resolution itself is the only thing offici from the organization. Mr. SCHWErre. That is right. Mr. HOLMAN. That is all they will ever do, is pass a resolution. Senator BUTLER. Is that in the original form as passed? Mr. SCHWEPPE. Yes. Senator BUTLER. And it still is as restricted as it was originally? Mr. SCHWEPPE. It is written as it was passed. MSMITHEY. There have been some minor changes in the resolution you now support? SCHWEPPE. Our committee has shortened the text somewhat, but sill basically the same resolution that the house of delegates "ed. We have improved the language slightly by shortening. The American Bar Association committee on peace and law consists Ten persons. Besides the chairman, the members are Mr. Carl 31. of Milwaukee, vice chairman of the committee and a former ent of the American Bar Association; Chief Judge Orie Phillips the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, who, dentally, was recipient in 1950 of the American Bar Association for distinguished service in the cause of American jurispruthe highest award within the gift of the American Bar Associ:: Mr. Frank B. Ober, a distinguished lawyer from Baltimore, 4. Mr. Vermont Hatch, of the well-known firm of White & Case, York City: Mr. Eberhart P. Deutsch, one of the leading members New Orleans bar; and Dr. George A. Finch of Washington, C. who is a distinguished practitioner and professor in the field of rational law in this city, who is also editor in chief of the Amerirnal of International Law, and who was a member of the State ment during the secretaryship of that great American lawyer, -Eu Root. American Bar Association committee on peace and law has for the study and appraisal of the work of the United Nations, the position of the United States in that work, and of the impact ited Nations programs on Federal and State law in the United The committee has studied and reported, and in some inheld regional conferences throughout the United States, on -jects as the statute of the World Court, the codification of ational law, the genocide convention, the proposed covenant on rhts, the proposed covenant on freedom of information, the ed news-gathering convention, and so forth. Base of the large number of new treaties being proposed by the ed Nations in the political, social, and economic fields (some 200 are reported to be in the works in the United Nations and its organizations), and because of article VI of the Federal ton making all treaties the supreme law of the land, anyin the constitution or laws of the several States to the contrary anding, and because of the real possibility that such treaties, ed, may adversely affect in a large way existing Federal laws State constitutions and laws, the committee on peace and law years ago considered the advisability of studying possible iments to the treatymaking power of the Constitution to pre"adverse effects of treaties on the domestic law of the Nation. The house of delegates of the American Bar Association in Septem ཏི in a formal resolution, approved this study, looking toward e recommendations in this field. This study was in no way ined as an attack on the United Nations, but as a means of preservUnited Nations for its primary function of collective security, e surely we believe the United Nations will surely fail, so far as American people are concerned, if it continues to persist in prodesigned to make domestic law for the people of the United setting aside State laws and constitutions, as well as Federal |