posts to which they might return, either to those posts or other poststhe fact that they, along with the President's personal lawyer, as Mr. Spater observed in his testimony, were the ones soliciting the campaign money, gives a particularly tough, almost coercive nature to the appeal. Mr. EDMISTEN. Thank you. Senator ERVIN. I am particularly impressed with your proposal that the Special Prosecutor be given power to prosecute for violations of election laws. We have had the laws in our statutes since 1907, if my recollection serves me right, that corporate funds shall not be used to make political contributions. Mr. CUTLER. Did you say 1907? Mr. CUTLER. Yes, it goes way back. Senator ERVIN. It is a misdemeanor, as I recall, punishable by not to exceed a $1,000 fine or 1 year imprisonment or both, and the General Accounting Office in the performance of its statutory duties certified to the Department of Justice a number of violations of that statute. And when the Department of Justice prosecuted the cases, it did not prosecute anybody who had aided and abetted the violations of the statutes by soliciting the campaign contributions. It usually just prosecuted the committees to re-elect the President, and there is no provision to put a committee in jail. The committee was merely fined. It might have been a healthy thing for the future if some individual who solicited an illegal contribution had been prosecuted. Mr. CUTLER. If I can paraphrase a remark of your colleague, Senator Hollings who has a felicity for turning such phrases as happy as yours, one could say that to ask the Department of Justice to prosecute a campaign financing violation is, in his phrase, like trying to deliver a head of lettuce by means of a rabbit. It just will not get there. [General laughter.] Senator ERVIN. I want to thank you again for your appearance and the very thoughtful paper that you have presented to us. Your observations have been extremely helpful to the subcommittee. Mr. CUTLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could say just one more word on campaign contributions, which is a subject I feel very strongly about. Mr. Cox observed that one of the problems of a continuing Public Prosecutor is that he might stand around looking for things to do. Well, I think that just the job of policing the campaign financing laws and other criminal aspects of our election laws would keep 50 of the best lawyers in this country busy for a long, long time, until the message got through that violations are going to be attacked. Senator ERVIN. I think that one thing that supports your view in that respect is a statement I saw some time ago that the Clerk at the House of Representatives had certified to the Department of Justice almost an unbelievable number of apparent violations of election laws, and the Department has prosecuted, practically none of them over a period of years. Mr. CUTLER. That is exactly right. Senator ERVIN. Thank you very much for a most helpful contribution. This concludes the hearings on the two bills we have been considering. But we will hold the record open for 10 days for any new material that might be inserted in the record. The committee will now stand in recess, subject to the call of the Chair. [Whereupon, at 12:35 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned, subject to the call of the Chair.] Mr. ERVIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To insure the separation of constitutional powers by establishing the Department of Justice as an independent establishment of the United States. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 FINDINGS OF FACT AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSE SECTION 1. (a) The Congress finds and declares that— (1) the Department of Justice is responsible for the performance of functions that are both executive and judicial in nature; (2) the officers and employees of the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, the Solicitor General, the United States attorneys, and the United 33-875 - 74-17 23 5 6 7 2 States marshals are officers of the courts as well as execu tive branch officers; and (3) to preserve the independence essential to the proper administration of justice the Department of Justice should be insulated from the direct political control of the executive branch of Government. (b) It is the purpose of this Act to establish the De8 partment of Justice as an independent establishment of the 9 United States. 10 SEC. 2. (a) Sections 501 through 510 of title 28, United 11 States Code, are amended to read as follows: 12 "§ 501. Independent establishment 13 "(a) There is established as an independent establish14 ment of the United States Government, the Department of 15 Justice. 16 "(b) The Department shall be headed by an Attorney 17 General who shall be appointed by the President, by and 18 with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of 19 six years. There shall be in the Department 20 21 222 "(1) a Deputy Attorney General, and "(2) a Solicitor General, 22 each of whom shall be appointed by the President, by and 23 with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of 24 six years. The Deputy Director shall perform such functions 25 as the Attorney General may prescribe and shall be the Note. - On line 24 "Deputy Director" should read "Deputy Attorney General”. |