CHAPTER X.

SPEAKER AND OTHER OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

§ 72. The Speaker of the House.

THE power to choose its presiding and other officers has been considered an attribute essential to the independence of every popular assembly. The former, by his power to preserve order, to put the question, and in England and the United States to determine who shall speak, can control the proceedings; while without the control of the latter the house is unable to see that its proceedings are correctly recorded or to protect itself from those assaults from without which have frequently intimidated and more than once dissolved representative bodies.

For this reason the Constitution next provides, "The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers, and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment."1 This clause, which was contained in most of the State constitutions, first appeared in the report of the committee of detail to the convention, and was adopted without discussion or dissent.2 The subject of impeachments will be examined in a subsequent chapter, in connection with that part of the Constitution which provides for their mode of trial.3

The speaker, as his name denotes, is the spokesman of the House, and represents it in its transactions with the Senate and the Executive. His name and duties are taken from those of the speaker of the House of Commons, who is elected by his fellowmembers, subject to the approval of the Crown. Although this approval is now a matter of course, as late as the reigns of the early

1

$ 72. Constitution, Article I, Section 2.

2 Madison Papers, Elliot's Debates, 2d ed., vol. v, pp. 377, 395.

3 Infra, Chapter XIII.

Stuarts, the Crown's part in the selection was controlling, and it was the custom of the king to signify in advance the person whom he wished to have elected. As the strength of the Commons grew, they gradually insisted upon the free choice of their speaker, which has been conceded to them since the reign of Charles II.4 A similar power of approval was claimed by the colonial governors appointed by the Crown. It was disputed by the colonial assemblies, but their power to withhold appropriations usually made them successful in any contest upon the subject which arose.5 In the sham representative institutions set up by Napoleon I and III, the executive had the right to name the president of the lower legislative house."

In the absence of a rule upon the subject, the speaker must be elected by a majority vote. In two cases, however, speakers have been elected by a plurality, after the adoption by a majority of a rule providing that a plurality might elect. The speaker cannot be impeached; but he may be removed and another chosen in his place at the will of the majority of a quorum at any time.9 He has "the right to name any member to perform the duties of the chair, but such substitution must not extend beyond an adjournment; provided, however, that in case of his illness he may make such appointment for a period not exceeding ten days with the approval of the House at the time the same is made; and in his absence and omission to make such appointment, the House shall proceed to elect a speaker to act in his absence." 10

4 The only case of the election of a speaker whom the Crown refused to approve was that of Sir Edward Seymour, in 1678, unless that of Sir John Popham, in 1450, was such a one. Hatsell's Precedents, 3d ed., vol. ii, pp. 202, 204, 211; Burnet, History of My Own Time, vol. i, p. 53; Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. i, p. 181.

5 In 1720 the Massachusetts Assembly was dissolved because they claimed the right to choose their speaker without the governer's approval. (Palfrey, History of New England, 1689-1727, pp. 273-274, 377-379; Chalmers, Introduction to the History

of the Revolt of the American Colonies, Book VIII, ch. ii.)

6 Hélie, Les Constitutions de la France, pp. 708, 868, 1170.

7 Journal, 1st Sess. 31st Congress, pp. 156, 163; Journal, 1st Sess. 34th Congress, pp. 429, 430, 444.

8 In re Speakership of House of Representatives, 15 Colorado, 520; s. c. 25 Pac. Rep., 707; Blount's Impeachment Trial, Wharton's State Trials, p. 200; infra, § 91.

92 Grey, 186; 5 Grey, 134, Jefferson's Manual, Sec. IX; In re Speakership of House of Representatives, 15 Colorado, 520; s. c. 25 Pac. Rep., 707.

10 Rule I.

It is a part of the speaker's functions to authenticate by his signature all bills and resolutions passed by the House and all communications made by it to other branches of the government.11 His more important duties are, however, to preside and preserve order during the proceedings. "It is the duty of the presiding officer: To call the assembly to order at the time appointed for the meeting. To ascertain the presence of a quorum. To cause the journal or minutes of the preceding meeting to be read and passed upon by the assembly. To lay before the assembly its business in the order indicated by the rules. To receive any propositions made by the members and put them to the assembly. To divide the assembly on questions submitted by him and to announce the result. To decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal to the assembly.12 To preserve order and decorum in debate and at all other times. To enforce such of the rules of the assembly as are not placed in charge of other officers, or of which the enforcement is not reserved by the assembly. To answer all parliamentary inquiries and give information as to the parliamentary effect of proposed acts of the assembly. To present to the assembly all messages from co-ordinate branches, and all proper communications. To sign and authenticate all the acts of the assembly, all its resolves and votes. To name a member to take his place until adjournment of the meeting. And in general: To act as the organ of the assembly, and as its representative, subject always to its will." 13 In the House of Representatives, the speaker has the further power to appoint all standing committees, unless otherwise specially ordered by the House.14 The powers of recognition and of the appointment of committees which are vested in the speaker give him almost absolute control of the business transacted; and it is the custom in the House of Representatives of the United States, and also in the lower houses of the State legislatures, for him to exercise these for partisan purposes, and

11 Field v. Clark, 143 U. S., 649, 671; Carr v. Coke (S.C.), 22 S. E. Rep., 16; Wyatt v. Wheeler (S.C.), 22 S. E. Rep., 120. The effect of his signature will be considered later.

12 There is no appeal from such a

decision by the speaker of the House of Commons (Reed's Parliamentary Rules, p. 37, note).

18 Ibid., § 34, pp. 36-38; see also House Rules I and X of 53d Congress. 14 Rule X of 53d Congress.

to act as the leader of the majority, with the assistance of a member who is chosen by a caucus or assumes by common consent the position of leader on the floor. He thus is responsible for the action of the House, and discharges in this respect many of the legislative functions of the prime minister under a system of cabinet government. He has not, however, like the latter, any control over the executive; and his power and that of the majority behind him are subject to the checks of the President and the courts, as well as of the upper house. In the House of Commons, on the other hand, the speaker, during the past century, has maintained a dignified impartiality.

The speaker, being a member of the House, does not lose the right to vote upon every question which is vested in him on behalf of the constituency which he represents.15 The rules provide that "he shall not be required to vote in ordinary legislative proceedings, except when his vote would be decisive, or where the house is engaged in voting by ballot; and in all cases of a tie vote the question shall be lost." 16 Since a proposition is defeated by a tie vote as well as by a majority of one against it, it has been said that the speaker under this rule is never required to vote except in case of a ballot.17

In the United States the speaker is liable to suit in the courts for a trespass that he has committed under the order of the House.18 The rule is otherwise in Great Britain, where each House of Parliament is still treated as a court, the decisions of which are respected by other judges even though they believe them to be erroneous.19

15 The right of the speaker to vote when there is no tie was established in 1803 upon the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. Nathaniel Macon of Virginia, who was then Speaker, made up by his vote the necessary two-thirds in favor of the amendment, thus disregarding as unconstitutional the House rule then in force which forbade him to vote except in case of a tie. (Benton, Thirty Years' View, vol. i, p. 118.) Henry Clay, when

speaker in 1817, voted in favor of an internal improvement bill which Madison had vetoed.

16 Rule I of 53d Congress, which was originally adopted April 7th, 1789.

17 Crutchfield, Digest and Manual of the Rules and Practice of the House of Representatives (1893), p. 534.

18 Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U. S., 168; Kielley v. Carson, 4 Moore, P. C., 63.

19 Burdett v. Abbott, 14 East, 1; Bradlaugh v. Gossett, 12 Q. B. D., 271.

§ 73. Other Officers of the House.

The other officers of the House of Representatives are similar in name and functions to those in the House of Commons and the State legislatures, the clerk, sergeant-at-arms, doorkeeper, postmaster and chaplain, all of whom are elected by the House from persons not members, and appoint their subordinates.1 They hold office after the expiration of the Congress at which they were chosen and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The chief duty of the clerk is to keep the records of the House and to make the preliminary entries in the journal subject to correction by the speaker and the House. He has also, by rule and statute, the important duty to call the preliminary roll of members upon the organization of each Congress, and to preserve order and decide all questions of order subject to appeal until the House has elected a permanent or temporary speaker.* This gives him an enormous power, which might be used to pack the House with members not elected, since it is the practice to refuse to entertain motions to amend the preliminary roll and to entertain no appeals from such decisions.5

The sergeant-at-arms, as his name denotes, is the military officer of the House. His duties are to preserve order, to execute the commands of the speaker against members and strangers, and thus to protect the House from attacks from within and without. In conjunction with the sergeant-at-arms of the Senate he appoints the capitol police; and he is also the disbursing officer of the House.8

The duties of the doorkeeper, postmaster and chaplain sufficiently appear from their respective names.

All these officers are, in the United States, although not in Great Britain,10 responsible to the courts for trespasses committed

§ 73. 1 Rule II of 53d Congress.

2 Ibid.

Rules I, III.

4 U. S. Rev. St., § 31; Rule III. See supra, § 38, over note 87; infra, Ch. XVI.

See proceedings at the organization of the 41st Congress and subse

quently referred to by Crutchfield, Digest and Manual, ed. of 1893, p. 302.

626 St. at L., p. 645; Rule IV.

7 U. S. Rev. St., § 1821.

8 26 St. at L., p. 645.

9 Rules V, VI, VII.

10 Burdett v. Abbott, 14 East, 1;