of proceedings the Houses of Congress may not "ignore constitutional
restraints or violate fundamental rights, and there should be a
reasonable relation between the mode or method of proceeding established
by the rule and the result which is sought to be attained. But within
these limitations all matters of method are open to the determination of
the House, * * * The power to make rules is not one which once exercised
is exhausted. It is a continuous power, always subject to be exercised
by the House, and within the limitations suggested, absolute and beyond
the challenge of any other body or tribunal."[169] Where a rule affects
private rights, the construction thereof becomes a judicial question. In
United States _v._ Smith,[170] the Court held that the Senate's attempt
to reconsider its confirmation of a person nominated by the President as
Chairman of the Federal Power Commission was not warranted by its rules,
and did not deprive the appointee of his title to the office. In
Christoffel _v._ United States[171] a sharply divided Court upset a
conviction for perjury in the district courts of one who had denied
under oath before a House Committee any affiliation with Communism. The
reversal was based on the ground that inasmuch as a quorum of the
Committee, while present at the outset, was not present at the time of
the alleged perjury, testimony before it was not before a "competent
tribunal" within the sense of the District of Columbia Code.[172] Four
Justices, speaking by Justice Jackson dissented, arguing that under the
rules and practices of the House, "a quorum once established is presumed
to continue unless and until a point of no quorum is raised" and that
the Court was, in effect, invalidating this rule, thereby invalidating
at the same time the rule of self-limitation observed by courts "where
such an issue is tendered."[173]


POWERS OF THE HOUSES OVER MEMBERS