pt from Public Law 92-261-Equal Employment Opportunity Act of (1) *

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) There shall be a General Counsel of the Commission appointed by the t, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of four The General Counsel shall have responsibility for the conduct of litigation ded in sections 706 and 707 of this title. The General Counsel shall have er duties as the Commission may prescribe or as may be provided by law Il concur with the Chairman of the Commission on the appointment and ion of regional attorneys. The General Counsel of the Commission on the e date of this Act shall continue in such position and perform the functions 1 in this subsection until a successor is appointed and qualified. Attorneys appointed under this section may, at the direction of the Comappear for and represent the Commission in any case in court, provided e Attorney General shall conduct all litigation to which the Commission ty in the Supreme Court pursuant to this title."

complete text of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended 1 March 24, 1972, appears as an appendix to this hearing.)

CHAIRMAN. We are pleased to have our colleague, Senator here to introduce Mr. Carey to the committee.

EMENT OF HON. CHARLES H. PERCY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

ator PERCY. Mr. Chairman, I am glad that this nomination is not troversial as another one that has been conducted in the room for ast several months.

m very pleased by the President's nomination of William A. Carey General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity mission.

. Carey, whom I have known for many years, is an outstanding ney in Illinois, with 10 years of experience in trial and appellate with a major law firm. His previous experience with the Dement of Justice both in Washington and Chicago further qualifies or this appointment.

special interest to those of us who are deeply concerned about opportunity in American live is his background as a member of Evanston, Ill., Human Relations Commission and the Evanston Housing Review Board. In these roles he made constructive contions to the advancement of justice in that city.

can say that of all the cities I know in Illinois, Evanston has best led the problem of equal opportunity in housing and education. as a totally integrated school system of the best possible type. nk it is simply due to the outstanding citizens who are residents have given their time to make certain their own city is a model. nk for that reason, in addition to his fine legal background and ing, it is a great privilege to have this opportunity to present Carey to the committee this morning.

ne CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Percy. enator PERCY. If I may be excused, Mr. Chairman.

he CHAIRMAN. I believe you have a statement, Mr. Carey, that you ld like to make?

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM A. CAREY, NOMINATED TO BE GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

Mr. CAREY. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

I would first like to thank Senator Percy for those flattering remarks and for taking time from his busy schedule to be here to introduce me. I appreciate it very much.

Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, it is an honor for me to be here this morning. I am particularly grateful to President Nixon for nominating me to be the first Presidentially appointed General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

With the passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 (amending title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act) by a wide margin, Congress has issued a clear mandate to the EEOC to attempt to bring to an end all forms of employment discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. To help achieve this end, Congress has armed the Commission with the power to seek the aid of our Federal courts, with their broad remedial powers, to both deter those who violate the act and to redress the injuries done by such violations. I recognize that this new power to bring civil actions in the Federal courts must be exercised fairly and even-handedly; but I also recognize and believe that a true commitment to human rights requires that it be exercised vigorously.

I am also aware that employment discrimination may often be more subtle than direct; and I am also fully aware of the pervasive, albeit sometimes unintentioned, discrimination against women. My point is that the resources of the Commission must be used to combat every form of invidious employment discrimination.

I want to assure you, Mr. Chairman, and the members of this committee, that if confirmed as General Counsel I shall strive by every honorable means at my disposal to make the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that which you so sincerely want it to be: the bulwark in the fight against employment discrimination in this country.

That concludes my prepared statement, Mr. Chairman. I will be glad to respond to any questions the committee may have.

The CHAIRMAN. I certainly appreciate your statement. It is a fine statement and you stated it with great conviction.

I think you will certainly agree that the Commission itself should be a model in terms of its employment practices in this area of discrimination.

Mr. CAREY. I would agree to that.

The CHAIRMAN. If any discrimination gets notoriety, the greatest amount of attention would be given here. It has been recently, has it not? Was there not a case recently where there was a claim of discrimination within the Commission?

Mr. CAREY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, I am sure within your authority, this would not be a problem-discrimination within the Commission.

Mr. CAREY. I certainly hope not. I cannot imagine it would be any problem at all. Certainly, we must be holier than the employers.

The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask you, have you had time to think through in your mind the organization of the Commission needed to meet the new enforcement responsibilities, and do you see any restructuring of the Commission?

CAREY. In answer to your first question, Senator, I thought h generally the structure, restructuring that might be involved. ly this is an internal matter for the Commission and unless til I am confirmed I would not be privy to what is going on the Commission.

I have given some thought to the problems which the enforcepowers present.

basic feeling is that more and more of the responsibility has to in the field and that the Commission needs many, many new s because after all, it is not only a litigating commission-it a lot of lawyers, a lot of money, lest it be criticized for not doing hich Congress wants it to do.

CHAIRMAN. As I recall, the legislation provides for concurrence approving of regional attorneys. Is that your understanding? CAREY. Yes, sir.

CHAIRMAN. Is that true, too, in the selection of lawyers, to in the regions? That is your responsibility?

- CAREY. I believe the act speaks only of regional attorneys. I foresee no difficulty whatsoever in reaching concurrence with man Brown on the selection of regional attorneys or staff

neys.

e CHAIRMAN. Your personal background concerned with disnation is expressed in your hometown of Evanston?

. CAREY. Yes, Evanston.

e CHAIRMAN. What was your activity at the community level? . CAREY. I was a member of the first Evanston Community ions Commission in its early days, and later it was reorganized was a member of the human relations commission.

rafted the human relations commission bylaws. I was responsible rge measure for the passage of what was considered to be at the the strongest fair housing act in the State, if not in the country. ed to act as a mediator between those who felt that human rights ress was going too slow and those who thought it was going too

y position as a mediator was, let's just move human rights along. s active in obtaining from the city council funds to operate the nission, since it was an arm of Evanston. I fought hard for funds a black executive director and funds for a new position-for a tion as an assistant to the executive director. In those efforts I was pily successful.

he CHAIRMAN. Senator Javits?

enator JAVITS. Well, Mr. Carey has been in to see me and I have quite an interesting talk with him before his testimony and I am impressed with him, Mr. Chairman. He is a man who has the acity to do this job.

Ir. Carey, do you foresee any difficulty in the recruitment of the essary personnel on the regional or the Washington level?

Ir. CAREY. No, sir; I understand already there are hundreds, if not east a thousand applicants for positions as attorneys for the Comsion, and I would anticipate that for graduating law students legal k for the Commission would be among the most attractive areas of ernment.

80-501 0-72- -2

Senator JAVITS. Mr. Carey, we cannot of course hold you accountable for anything beyond your own capacity to do this job, but in your work, in finding out what the facts are, you are aware that the Commission received its authority to institute suits just a few months ago, right.

Mr. CAREY. Yes.

Senator JAVITS. Have you inquired as to how many suits they filed since?

Mr. CAREY. Well, I have not inquired, but I do know how many. I understand that two suits, major suits, have been filed, and there has been temporary injunctive relief yet obtained in a third suit.

Senator JAVITS. Do you have any idea how many cases they have which are ready for instituting suit or which are under review by the General Counsel?

Mr. CAREY. No, sir.

Senator JAVITS. You have no idea. Do you know whether it is a big backlog, a small backlog, or what?

Mr. CAREY. I think it is common knowledge that there is a big backlog.

Senator JAVITS. Is there anything you could tell us from before you are on the job in a sense, and it would be perhaps a little less tied into the hierarchy in the agency, as to whether your researches have shown where the problem is, where the holdups are, if any?

Mr. CAREY. May I regress just a second to the question on backlog? There is a big backlog, but I suspect, although I have no inside information, that the size of the backlog is due to the fact that each individual complaint is given a separate number, for example, and there may be a number of complaints against one employer which really would end up to be one case.

The size of the backlog is probably a lot less than the figures might indicate. How to handle the backlog, what the plans of the Commission are for that, this is a matter of internal workings of the Commission, which I am not privy to.

Senator JAVITS. As yet.

Mr. CAREY. As yet. I hope to be.

Senator JAVITS. I hope you will, too.

You spoke of much money being required. It is a fact, is it not, that the Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended almost a doubling of the budget? Is that correct? You are aware of that? Mr. CAREY. I am aware-I don't know whether the budget has been doubled. I am aware that members of the Commission are happy that quite a bit of additional money has been earmarked by the Senate.

I would think that this is one area where we ought not to skimp. We need a lot of lawyers and a lot of money. But I do understand there has been a substantial increase recommended by the Senate.

Senator JAVITS. Now, could you give us or have you thought through so you could give us any guideline which you would use in determining, as General Counsel, what cases you would want to see instituted?

You are not as autonomous in this job as the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. But you do have more authority than just a lawyer retained by an agency. So it is important for us to have some idea, if you have one, as to how you would look at cases

would select for action, as this is always a big problem in

REY. Yes, I think there are a number of considerations which reviewed with respect to any alleged violation of the act. meaning to suggest that a small company ought to be given e consideration would be the size of the employer, another tion would be the impact on the public interest. By that I importance of the case in the overall enforcement of the act. er consideration, of course, would be the seriousness of the —is it a willful intentional violation?

er consideration would be overall, how many employees nefit from the bringing of this particular lawsuit?

would be some of the considerations which I would bring to

or JAVITS. You would not, however, exclude a small concern ou did feel that there was a serious case, a novel question, a t could be a landmark, for example, or a particularly willful uld you?

CAREY. No, sir; because oftentimes a smaller case-a case a smaller employer-would be easier to prove in terms of the of man-hours involved; and if the issues were important, probably be a good device to go after a smaller company to n a national precedent.

or JAVITS. As a generality, would you not agree that if the ssion has the personnel and the ability and resources, that - a duty to sue in every case in which there is a violation? CAREY. As a theoretical proposition, that is true. I know of no ment agency or department of Government, including the Department with its various U.S. attorneys offices, which manpower to prosecute every single violation. I would be less andid if I did not make that observation.

tor JAVITS. I think that is true.

Chairman, when we are through with the testimony of the s, I would like to suggest that as a prelude to our action on tness-I would not wish it to appear in the hearing about him, do think that we ought to inquire of the Commission why so ew cases have been instituted in the 4 months, and at least I it would be helpful to a new General Counsel to have this ting.

gentleman will remember when it was argued on the floor, one arguments used against us which prevailed with the Senate was could get off the ground very fast, if they had the power to sue. have not gotten off the ground very fast.

the appropriate time when we are through with this witness, Chairman, I will ask the Chair for that permission. ank you, Mr. Carey.

e CHAIRMAN. Mr. Randolph?

ator RANDOLPH. No. I have checked, Mr. Chairman, as far as I was necessary, into the qualifications of the nominee. I believe he will bring to this position, if he is approved by the committee by the Senate, those qualities which will enable him to do the which is set before him. I have confidence he will do that. T. CAREY. Thank you, sir.