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Is it the position of the minority that the
selection of judges at the trial court level,
that is, at the proposed superior court level,
be as at present?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Johnson.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Essentially,
yes.
DELEGATE BRADSHAW: Let me ask
you this: does not the present system tend
to favor the existing political establish-
ment?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Johnson.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: In my opinion,
no.
DELEGATE BRADSHAW: What pro-
vision has the minority taken to improve
the situation of the minority? I particularly
make reference to the Baltimore City situa-
tion.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: We think our
proposal best protects the minorities, any
minority, by precluding nominating com-
missions. In our view a small nominating
commission can either be weighted for or
weighted against minorities. I am appalled
at the idea that nominating commissions
may either be stacked because of pressures
by minorities either for or against minori-
ties. I prefer to see it open, I prefer to see
the governor take into consideration every
possible nominee and pick the best man for
the position. We think our position pro-
tects all minorities as well as all the citi-
zens in the state.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions? If not, I request Delegate
Johnson to return to his seat. The Clerk
will sound the quorum bell, please.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: May I sug-
gest to the Chairman that at ten minutes
after five on Friday afternoon of a very
long week that perhaps we would be better
able and more refreshed on Monday to take
up the rather grave and important matter
rather than make the motion that we rise.
Perhaps if we follow the usual protocol, we
would be accomplishing a great deal more
than if we were to sit for the next fifty
minutes.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair would
like to talk to Delegate Powers at the
rostrum, please.
The Chair in a few minutes will recog-
nize Delegate Powers for the purpose of
moving that the Committee of the Whole
rise. Let me say to you, however, that we
have a great many amendments to consider
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in connection with this article. It is, as has
been pointed out, a very important article.
It has been presented to you at great length
in very able committee reports and in very
able and detailed thorough reports by mi-
nority spokesmen. There have been numer-
ous questions. The majority recommenda-
tion is supported by a very detailed and
factual memorandum and each minority re-
port is similarly supported by such a memo-
randum.
The Chair agrees with the suggestion of
Delegate Sherbow that we can make greater
progress by adjourning now and consider-
ing this subject afresh on Monday after-
noon provided that each delegate in the
meantime over the weekend will undertake
to review the memoranda to be sure that
he has prepared in advance any amend-
ment he desires to offer.
If the Chair may be permitted to say so,
provided that in the course of debate we
avoid needless repetition, there will be no
desire to limit the number of speakers. The
Committee on Calendar and Agenda not-
withstanding, the report of the Committee
on Rules will not impose restrictions on the
number of speeches to be made by each
delegate, unless the conduct of the debate
on Monday makes this necessary.
May I therefore urge each delegate to
think ahead as to what he may want to say
and so organize his thoughts so that he
can say what he needs to say in one speech
on each point and say it very briefly.
But above all, have your amendments
prepared in advance.
The Chair says that notwithstanding the
fact that he also is going to request the
delegates to spend a good bit of time this
weekend in reading the very extensive com-
mittee recommendations and minority re-
ports which have been filed in the past few
days, and which are going to be filed this
afternoon, we gave consideration to the
possibility of suggesting to the Convention
that it meet tomorrow, notwithstanding the
previous understanding that we would not
meet on Saturday. We decided not to do
so because of the tremendous quantity of
material that is to be read by each dele-
gate.
We still have before us the task of com-
pleting our work by December 12th. It can
be done if we will all continue to work as
we have been working these past few weeks
and to limit debate to pertinent debate,
full debate, but not unnecessarily repetitive
debate.
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