NOMINATION OF WARREN E. BURGER TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 1969 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:35 a.m., in room 2228, New Senate Office Building, Senator James O. Eastland (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Eastland, McClellan, Ervin, Dodd, Kennedy, Bayh, Tydings, Byrd of West Virginia, Dirksen, Hruska, Thurmond, Cook, and Mathias. Also present: John H. Holloman, chief counsel; Francis C. Rosenberger, Peter M. Stockett, and Margaret Corcoran of the committee staff. The CHAIRMAN. The hearing this morning has been scheduled for the purpose of considering the nomination of Warren E. Burger to be Chief Justice of the United States. Notice of the hearing was published in the Congressional Record on May 26, 1969. The Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary of the American Bar Association states that the committee is of the view that Judge Burger is highly acceptable from the viewpoint of professional qualifications. (The letter is as follows:) Re Hon. Warren E. Burger, St. Paul, Minn. Hon. JAMES O. EASTLAND, Chairman, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Washington, D.C. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, New York, N.Y., June 2, 1969. DEAR SENATOR EASTLAND: Thank you for your telegram affording this Committee an opportunity to express an opinion or recommendation pertaining to the nomination of the Honorable Warren E. Burger of St. Paul, Minnesota, for appointment as Chief Justice of the United States. The members of our Committee are unanimously of the opinion that Judge Burger is highly acceptable from the viewpoint of professional qualifications for this appointment. With best wishes, Sincerely yours, CLOYD LAPORTE, Acting Chairman. Now, these gentlemen are here to testify, we cannot take all of them, but I am going to read their names into the record: Hon. Cody Fowler, of Florida, past president, American Bar Association; Rosser L. Malone, of New Mexico, past president of the American Bar Association; David F. Maxwell, of Pennsylvania, past president of the American Bar Association; Lewis F. Powell, Jr., of Virginia, past president of the American Bar Association; Whitney North Seymour, of New York, past president of the American Bar Association; and Charles Rhyne, of Washington, D.C., past president of the American Bar Association. The following are past presidents of the Federal Bar Association: Hon. Robert N. Anderson; Laurence H. Axman; Frank J. Delaney; William L. Ellis; Marshall C. Gardner; Whitney Gillilland; John H. Grosvenor, Jr.; James McI. Henderson; Carl A. Kendall; John A. McIntire; Thomas G. Meeker; Miss Bonnie Mills, president of the District of Columbia Chapter, Federal Bar Association; William N. Morell, past president; James E. Palmer, Jr., past president; Conrad D. Philos, past president; J. Thomas Rouland, executive director; Robert A. Shields, past president; Bettin Stalling, past president; Paul E. Teusch, president-elect; Frederick A. Ballard, past president, Bar Association, District of Columbia; Henry A. Berliner, Jr., chairman, Junior Bar Association, District of Columbia; James J. Bierbower, past president, Junior Bar, District of Columbia; Edmund D. Campbell, past president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; James W. Cobb, president, Washington Bar Association; F. Joseph Donohue, former D.C. Commissioner; Newell W. Ellison, partner, Covington & Burling; Richard W. Galiher, past president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; Nelson T. Hartson, partner, Hogan & Hartson; Francis W. Hill, past president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; Thomas Searing Jackson, past president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; Milton W. King, past president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; Preston C. King, Jr., past president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; John L. Laskey, past president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Belford V. Lawson, chairman, judicial selection committee, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; Paul F. McArdle, past president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; George E. Monk, president-elect, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; John Nolan, past chairman, junior bar section, Bar Association, District of Columbia; Ashley Seller, partner, Sellers, Conner & Cuneo; Jacob A. Stein, president, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; James R. Stoner, past chairman, junior bar section, Bar Association of the District of Columbia; William S. Thompson, Member of District of Columbia City Council, and R. Paul Sharood, president of Minnesota State Bar Association. In addition I have telegrams from Earl F. Maurich, immediate past president, American Bar Association; Edward Koon, past president of the American Bar Association, and others. These telegrams will be admitted into the record. (The telegrams appear in the appendix.) The CHAIRMAN. Now, here is a resolution adopted by the judges of the second circuit: This Court meets en banc today pursuant to a designation made weeks ago on a date that by happenstance falls within the week following the President's nomination of Judge Warren E. Burger as Chief Justice of the United States. It is fitting and proper we think to spread on the minutes of our Court in open session the pride and honor that has been bestowed on a distinguished colleague, an excellent judge and fine craftsman of the law, an honor that extends in some measure to the Court itself. As his colleagues on the bench, we are uniquely aware of his vigorous interest in the improvement of judicial administration, a quality that can now be usefully applied to his new responsibilities as head of the Federal Judicial System. We congratulate him individually, and we take this occasion to congratulate him en That was by unanimous vote by Judge Burger's colleagues. My Dear Mr. Chairman: It has come to my attention that some communications to the Senate describe me as a resident of Minnesota. Of course, Minnesota is my native state and all my family reside there, but I have been a legal resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia for fourteen years. I am not aware of what significance, if any, this duality of residence background would have, but I thought it desirable that I call the matter to your attention. Senator Byrd. STATEMENT OF HON. HARRY F. BYRD, JR., A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA Senator BYRD. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I am pleased to present to the committee today a fellow Virginian. Since 1955, Judge Warren Burger has been a property owner in Virginia, a taxpayer in Virginia, and a voter in Virginia. Judge Burger, I know, will always be proud of the great State of his birth, Minnesota, but we in Virginia are proud of Judge Burger. We consider him a Virginian. His home and the 6 acres surrounding it are located in Arlington County. In reading some of Judge Burger's opinions as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and some of his public statements, it seems to me that he not only is an able jurist but one who believes in the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government. President Nixon has asserted he believes it important to appoint to the Court at this time in the Nation's history judges who believe in a strict interpretation of the Supreme Court's role. Judge Burger's record suggests that he adheres to this belief. I am grateful to the committee and to its splendid chairman, Senator Eastland, for permitting me to say a few words today in behalf of a fellow Virginian. If this committee acts favorably on the pending nomination, and if the Senate subsequently consents to the nomination of Judge Burger, he will become Virginia's first Chief Justice since John Marshall. John Marshall served 34 years from 1801 to 1835. I doubt that Judge Burger will want to serve quite that long but I, for one, am delighted at his selection to be Chief Justice of the United States. I congratulate Judge Burger, and I commend President Nixon on the appointment. And again, Mr. Chairman, I am grateful to you and to the committee for permitting me to say these few words. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Spong. STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM B. SPONG, JR., A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA Senator SPONG. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am pleased to be here this morning to join in presenting to you Judge Warren Burger, who is before you for consideration for Chief Justice of the United States. Judge Burger, as you know, has served for a number of years with distinction at the bar and on the bench. I shall not comment this morning upon any of his judicial decisions, but I would observe that he showed, in my opinion, great wisdom and good judgment when he decided to move to the Commonwealth of Virginia 15 years ago. And I am very pleased to be here today to present him to you as a fellow Virginian. I know that this nomination will receive your most serious consideration today. It is a pleasure for me to join with the number of lawyers you have already recorded in hoping that this committee will give favorable consideration to this nomination and passing it on to the Senate. I congratulate Judge Burger, and I thank you again for allowing me to be here with you this morning to help present him. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Judge Burger, you have a biography before you. If it is correct, I will place it in the record. STATEMENT OF HON. WARREN E. BURGER, TO BE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES Judge BURGER. Yes, I do, Senator. I would have only one very slight correction, and that is in the description of the law firm I was a member of beginning in 1931 upon graduation from law school. That name should be Boyeson, Otis & Faricy, and the name which is on the biography is the correct name of the firm at the time I withdrew from it at the end of 1952. Otherwise it is a correct statement. The CHAIRMAN. With those corrections, it will be admitted into the record. (The biography follows:) WARREN E. BURGER Born: September 17, 1907, St. Paul, Minnesota. Education: 1925-26, 1932-33, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1927-31, St. Paul College of Law, St. Paul, Minn. LL. B. degree, magna cum laude. Bar: 1931, Minnesota. Employment: 1931-53, Faricy, Burger, Moore & Costello, St. Paul, Minnesota, Attorney; 1953-56, Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division; March 29, 1956-present, District of Columbia Circuit Judge. Marital Status: Married, 2 children. Office: U.S. Courthouse, Washington, D.C. 20001. Home: 3111 N. Rochester Street, Arlington, Virginia 22213. To be Chief Justice of the United States. The CHAIRMAN. Judge, what was the nature of your practice when you were in it? Judge BURGER. My practice covered a wide range of work, Senator, excluding the field of criminal law. I tried some criminal cases by appointment of the court or as a volunteer in the legal aid system. În Minnesota, we have had, for longer than I can remember, a public defender system, an organized public defender system in all cities of the first class, that is to say, cities over 100,000. So in St. Paul most of the work was done by that staff. But I tried a half a dozen criminal cases in those years. Otherwise, my practice was very general. The CHAIRMAN. What do you conceive to be your duties as Chief Justice and a member of the Supreme Court? |