Statement About a Bill Conferring Jurisdiction Upon the United States District Court in Civil Actions Brought by the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities

FEW consequences arising out of the Watergate crimes and improprieties surrounding the Presidential election of 1972 are more grievous than the disposition to inflict further harm on our political system through the passage of ill-advised laws. Such a bill is now on my desk. S. 2641 provides the United States District Court for the District of Columbia original jurisdiction over civil action brought by the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. The intent of this legislation is to circumvent the established judicial processes by making the court a vehicle for Congressional actions not envisaged in the Constitution.

The reason for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor within the executive branch to deal with issues arising out of the campaign of 1972 was precisely to avoid the constitutional anomaly which S. 2641 now creates. The White House is cooperating with the Special Prosecutor, and the matters falling within his jurisdiction are being adjudicated in the courts. The control of litigation is the proper function of the executive branch, relinquished only in limited and specific circumstances. The legislation now before me gives to the Congress a broad general grant of that authority which properly resides exclusively in the executive branch, and provides a precedent for the further arrogation of authority.

I strongly disagree with this legislation. S. 2641 is an implicit denial of faith in the American judicial process and a measure which cannot fail to weaken that system. Nevertheless, I recognize that the Congress and the public would place an interpretation upon a veto which would be entirely contrary to my reasons for vetoing it. Therefore, I cannot give the sanction of the executive branch to this bad legislation by signing it into law; neither, in the present circumstances, will I veto it.