These appropriations
are required to keep in operation the general functions of the
judicial department of the Government, and if this part of the bill
stood alone there would be no objection to its approval. It contains,
however, other provisions, to which I desire respectfully to ask your
attention.
At the present session of Congress a majority of both Houses, favoring
a repeal of the Congressional election laws embraced in title 26 of
the Revised Statutes, passed a measure for that purpose, as part of
a bill entitled "An act making appropriations for the legislative,
executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1880, and for other purposes." Unable to concur with
Congress in that measure, on the 29th of May last I returned the bill
to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, without my
approval, for that further consideration for which the Constitution
provides. On reconsideration the bill was approved by less than
two-thirds of the House, and failed to become a law. The election laws
therefore remain valid enactments, and the supreme law of the land,
binding not only upon all private citizens, but also alike and equally
binding upon all who are charged with the duties and responsibilities
of the legislative, the executive, and the judicial departments of the
Government.
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