Mr. JOHNSON. The Senfrom Wer. mont has no doubt given more attention to the subject of his amendment than I have; but it seems to me to be liable to 2 objections, the 1st of which is that it is not necessary. The President as a matter of course, or the proper Dept, would have the power to issue the commission after the Senate had advised and consented to the appointment. I think that is regulated by a general law independent of this The 2nd objection is that per aps impliedly it takes from the President authority to issue commissions during the session of the Senate. It says that he shall issue commissions to officers when the Senate has advised, consented to their appointment, after the adjournment of the Senate. Then, if there is no law now which gives him authority to issue commissions in the recess, the implication from this language would be that no commission could be issued during the ses:sion of Congress. That would be attended with very great difficulty, particularly during the long session, when we are here sometimes until the month of August, and have been here until September. ". i that whole period, from week to week and month to month, appointments are being made, and that will be the case if this bill passes in such cases as are provided for by the bill. If I am right in supposing that the implication will be that there is no authority to issue a commission until after the adjournment of Congress, the officers appointed early in the session, not intermediately in the session, would have to wait until Congress adjourned before they could get their commissions. That I suppose is not the purpose of my friendfrom Wer mont; but I submit to him whether that perhaps will not be the effect of his amendment. On the other question I am not so certain; that is to say, whether the President has not the power, or to state it more correctly, whether it is not his duty to issue commissions to officers who have been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Except for the authority of the Supreme Court in the case of Marbury vs. Madison, the doctrine of which was perhaps recognized as a sound one in the subsequent case of the U.S. ts. Guth rie, I should presume the President had no authority to withhold a commission, after it has been signed and filed in the Dept, of an officer who has been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. If there be any doubt of the authority of the President to issue a commission after the adjournment of the Senate, it is a doubt that ought to be cured by this amendment; but I am by no means sure that such a doubt is well founded, and I think it more probable perhaps that the amendment would create difficulty instead of removing it, by giving room for the construction that it takes from the President the power to issue commissions until the Senate does adjourn.