Power of the Supreme Court to Make Rules of Appellate Procedure

The passage by Congress of the Act of June 19,1934, conferring rule-making power upon the Supreme Court of the United States in actions at law in the United States courts, together with power to unite the law and equity procedures in those courts, marks the climax of a long contest not without its dramatic features. Attack upon the principle of conformity at law to state practice developed at an early date, and twenty-four years ago the American Bar Association took up the fight for a single uniform system to be developed by the Court. This aroused a determined legislative opposition, because of the fear that a complicated practice, the outgrowth of crowded urban dockets, might be forced upon the entire country. At length, in 1933, the Association withdrew from the battle to the extent of dismissing its Committee on Uniform Judicial Procedure. Its chief opponent in Congress had been Senator Walsh of Montana, and on his death, which occurred after he had been offered and had accepted the AttorneyGeneralship of the United States, there remained no real, active opposition. On the contrary, his successor, the new Attorney General, Homer S. Cummings, favored the legislation, undertook support of the Association\u27s bill, and pressed it with such vigor that the bill became a law within three months after he had announced his intention of having it introduced, and this without any opposition or discussion