[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15421]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SENATE LEGAL COUNSEL AUTHORIZATION

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 538, which was submitted 
earlier today.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the 
resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 538) to authorize representation by 
     the Senate legal counsel in the case of Rockefeller versus 
     Bingaman et al.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this resolution concerns a pro se civil 
action filed against Senator Jeff Bingaman, the United States Senate, 
Representative Steve Pearce, and the United States House of 
Representatives, in which plaintiff challenges as unconstitutional the 
fact that he does not have a guaranteed right to have his appeals heard 
by the United States Supreme Court nor a right to have a three-judge 
district court hear his challenges to Federal statutes at the trial 
court level. Plaintiff complains that permitting the Supreme Court 
discretion as to which appeals to hear and allowing single-judge 
district courts to decide cases challenging the constitutionality 
Federal statutes violates the Constitution's separation of powers. 
Plaintiff seeks an injunction against the operation of the statutes 
that provide for petitioning the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari 
and for convening a three-judge district court to hear a case.
  This suit is subject to dismissal as defective on both threshold 
jurisdictional grounds and as failing to state a claim on the merits as 
a matter of law. This resolution authorizes the Senate Legal Counsel to 
represent Senator Bingaman and the United States Senate in this suit an 
to. move for its dismissal.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid 
upon the table.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 538) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 538

       Whereas, in the case of Rockefeller v. Bingaman, et al., 
     Case No. 06-CV-0198 (D.N.M.), pending in the United States 
     District Court of the District of New Mexico, the plaintiff 
     has named as defendants Senator Jeff Bingaman and the United 
     States Senate;
       Whereas, pursuant to sections 703(a) and 704(a)(1) of the 
     Ethics in Government Act of 1978, 2 U.S.C., Sec. Sec. 288b(a) 
     and 288c(a)(1), the Senate may direct its counsel to defend 
     the Senate and Members, officers, and employees of the Senate 
     in civil actions relating to their official responsibilities: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate Legal Counsel is authorized to 
     represent Senator Jeff Bingaman and the United States Senate 
     in the case of Rockefeller v. Bingaman, et al.

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