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THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate L. Taylor,
for what purpose do you rise?
DELEGATE L. TAYLOR: I would like
to speak against the amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other per-
son desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment? Delegate Singer?
DELEGATE SINGER: Mr. Chairman,
will the sponsor of the amendment yield
to a question?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot?
DELEGATE CHABOT: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Singer.
DELEGATE SINGER: Would this
amendment not open the door to a gover-
nor so disposed to try to convince one of
the nominees to remove himself from a list
to that the governor would have the op-
portunity of getting the list back from the
nominating commission and possibly having
another chance of getting someone he wants
on the list?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot?
DELEGATE CHABOT: I suppose that
this is possible. I suppose that almost any-
thing we do here is subject to misuse. I am
suggesting that we ought at least to pro-
vide for proper situations where noboby is
attempting to misuse the method, and un-
der those circumstances, there is a possible
gap here. If you can see a way of taking
care of both a world where everybody acts
properly and a world where everybody acts
improperly I am quite willing to join with
you in that.
I am satisfied with trying to deal with
the world where a reasonable number of
people try to act reasonably properly.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate L. Taylor.
DELEGATE L. TAYLOR: Mr. Chair-
man, fellow delegates, I believe Delegate
Chabot has a very good intention in mind,
but I feel that this violates a very good
merit plan for the appointment and selec-
tion of judges.
When the nominating commission has
made up a list of candidates for a judge-
ship, and if one candidate decides that he
does not want to receive the office or he
finds that somehow he cannot serve, I think
the other two may be qualified candidates
for the office. I think this can take advan-
tage of the other two candidates or the
other candidate. I believe that if the nomi-
nating commission has elected several
candidates, they will select the best and if
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you study the civil service system and other
merit plans of employment, you will find
that within the civil service employment
system, you will find that a list of five or
more people are submitted.
If one person refuses to accept the posi-
tion then the next person is in line for the
position. I have known of situations where
three or four people were in line for a
position and one person was asked to re-
sign or not to try to get a particular job,
and consequently the whole list was thrown
out and a new list was drawn up.
I believe that a governor or someone
could use this type of device to throw out
a list of qualified candidates for judge-
ships. This is why I oppose the amendment
and the reason I feel delegate Chabot has
a good aim in mind.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor? Delegate
Cardin.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Mr. Chairman,
I would like to ask a question, if I may.
THE CHAIRMAN: To whom is the
question addressed?
DELEGATE CARDIN: I believe it
would be Chairman Mudd.
Not being trained leg-ally, if we do not
make such provision in the constitution,
what would happen in effect if this consti-
tution were adopted and this situation
arose?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mudd.
DELEGATE MUDD: If a substitute list
or a list was made sufficient that had be-
come deficient and a question were raised,
I assume it would have to be judicially
determined, if there were no provision in
the constitution such as this.
In other words, If a list were furnished
the governor, in conformity with require-
ments of this section, and because of some
happening to one of the nominees, the list
became insufficient, and if without this
provision a new list were sent, or a new
name or names were substituted for the
party who might have died or decided not
to accept, and then the question were
raised that such procedure was not allowed
by the constitution, the only answer I could
see would be for the court to determine
whether it had been done as implicitly pro-
vided in the other sections of the consti-
tution.
That is a long answer, and may not be
helpful but I have no other suggestions as
to how it might be solved.
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