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the Committee of the Whole for the pur-
pose of resuming consideration of Com-
mittee Report EB-1.
THE PRESIDENT: Is there a second?
(Whereupon, the motion was duly sec-
onded.)
THE PRESIDENT: All in favor, signify
by saying Aye; contrary, No. The Ayes
have it. It is so ordered.
(Whereupon, at 4 :47 P.M., the Convention
resolved itself into the Committee of the
Whole.)
(The mace was removed by the Sergcant-
at-Arms.)
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
NOVEMBER 28, 1967—4:47 P.M.
PRESIDENT H. VERNON ENEY,
PRESIDING
THE CHAIRMAN: The Committee of
the Whole will please come to order.
The next item for consideration under
the debate schedule is Recommendation No.
4.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Morgan
for the purpose of presenting the Commit-
tee Report.
DELEGATE MORGAN: Mr. Chairman,
the Committee on the Executive Branch
recommends Recommendation No. 4 of
Committee Report EB-1, that the office of
the attorney general not be provided for in
the constitution.
Article V of the present Constitution
creates the office of attorney general, and
provides that he shall be popularly elected.
Section 3 of that article sets forth the
duties of the office as follows:
(1) to represent the State in all cases
in the Court of Appeals of Maryland or
in the Supreme Court of the United States;
(2) to give his opinion in writing when-
ever required by the General Assembly or
either branch thereof, the governor, the
comptroller, treasury, or any state's at-
torney, on any legal matter or subject
pending before him; (3) when required by
the governor or General Assembly, to aid
any state's attorney in prosecuting any
suit or action brought by the State in any
court of this State; (4) to commence and
prosecute, or defend any suit or action in
any of said courts on the part of the State
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which the General Assembly, or the gov-
ernor, acting according to law, shall direct
to be commenced, prosecuted, or defended;
(5) to perform such other duties and ap-
point such number of deputies or assistants
as the General Assembly may by law pre-
scribe.
Section 3 also provides that the governor
cannot employ any additional counsels un-
less authorized by the General Assembly.
Under Article 32 (A) of the Maryland
Code, the office of attorney general is
charged with the supervision and direction
of the legal business of the State and the
representation of all boards and commis-
sions of the State except the public service
commission.
Hence, the Committee conceives that un-
der the present Constitution and laws, the
office of the attorney general does not fit
neatly into any particular branch of the
state government, although the Committee
does contend that most of the attorney
general's duties are performed for the ex-
ecutive branch of the state government.
The Committee on the Executive Branch
feels that a necessary part of the gover-
nor's position as the chief executive of
the State is the ability to appoint the law-
yer for the executive branch of the state
government. This is a principle applied in
private business and at the federal and
local levels of government, and the Com-
mittee can see no good reason why an ex-
ception should be made at the state level
of government.
The Committee, therefore, recommends
that the office of attorney general not be
constitutionally created.
There is one additional reason for the
Committee's recommendation: The Com-
mittee feels that Maryland has had a heri-
tage of fine attorneys general, but at the
same time, the Committee feels it clear
that the requirement that the attorney
general run for popular election has ma-
terially narrowed the field of outstanding
lawyers who are willing to serve as at-
torney general, because of their reluctance
to go through the rigors of a political cam-
paign.
Today, attorneys general are actually
selected by candidates for the office of gov-
ernor to run on the governor's ticket. By
making the attorney general an appointee
of the governor, the governor would be
able to select from among a much larger
field a fine lawyer to serve as his attorney
general, without taking into account his
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