[Deschler's Precedents]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID:52093c05_txt-5]
[Page 305-306]
CHAPTER 5
The House Rules, Journal, and Record
A. HOUSE RULES AND MANUAL
Sec. 4. --Judicial Authority With Respect to Rules
The role that the courts play in adjudicating questions involving
the rules of either House must of necessity be a limited one, for the
manner in which a House or committee of Congress chooses to run its
business ordinarily raises no justifiable controversy.(3) On
the other hand, when the application or construction of a rule directly
affects persons other than Members of the House, the question presented
is of necessity a judicial one.(4) Thus, to a limited
extent, the rules of Congress and its committees are judicially
cognizable. Even where a judicial controversy is presented, however,
the function of the courts is generally a narrow one.
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3. Yellin v United States, 374 U.S. 109 (1963); United States v
Ballin, 144 U.S. 1 (1892).
4. Yellin v United States, 374 U.S. 109 (1963); Christoffel v United
States, 338 U.S. 84 (1949).
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The Constitution empowers each House to determine its rules of
proceedings.(5) The House may not by its rules ignore
constitutional restraints or violate fundamental rights, and there
should be a reasonable relation between the mode or method of
proceeding established by the rule and the result which is sought to be
attained. But within these limitations, all matters of method are open
to the determination of the House, and it is no impeachment of the rule
to say that some other way would be better, more accurate or even more
just.(6) In accordance with these principles, the question,
as was stated in one case,(7) is not what rules Congress may
establish, but rather what rules the House has established and whether
they have been followed.
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5. See Sec. 3, supra.
6. Yellin v United States, 374 U.S. 109 (1963); United States v
Ballin, 144 U.S. 1 (1892).
7. Christoffel v United States, 338 U.S. 84 (1949). In the Christoffel
case, the petitioner had been convicted of perjury before a
House committee under a statute punishing perjury before a
``competent'' tribunal. The petitioner contended that the
committee was not a ``competent'' tribunal in that a quorum was
not present at the time of the incident alleged. The court
reversed the conviction, citing an erroneous instruction that
would have allowed the jury to determine competency on the
basis of the situation existing at the time the committee
convened rather than at the time of the actual incident.
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Although rules adopted by the House or its committees have the
[[Page 306]]
force of law and are binding on those for whose use the rules were
established,(8) there is a point beyond which courts will
not venture in their disposition of cases concerning the rules. Thus,
in a controversy involving a House rule that required testimony to be
received by a committee in executive session only if the committee
determined that the testimony of the witness would tend to defame,
degrade, or incriminate any person, the court stated that it would be
an unwarranted interference with the powers conferred by the
Constitution upon the legislative branch for any court to presume to
dictate that determination.(9) It is worth noting that the
court in this case also cited a presumption in favor of the regularity
of all official conduct and stated that the presumption required that
it be assumed that a committee would not disregard its rules.
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8. Yellin v United States, 374 U.S. 109 (1963); Christoffel v United
States, 338 U.S. 84 (1949); Randolph v Willis, 220 F Supp 355
(1963).
9. Randolph v Willis, 220 F Supp 355 (1963).
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