Memorandum Concerning the Time of Admission of the State of Alaska

Offire nf the Amorney General Mashington, D. C. is DEC 31 1958 MEMORANDUM CONCERNING THE TIME OF ADMISSION OF THE STATE OF ALASKA Admission of the State of Alaska into the Union will automatically entitle that State to representation in the Congress, and, by the same token, will signify the begin- ning of the terms of the senators and representative from Alaska. If the new State is admitted to the Union before the expiration of the Eighty-fifth Congress, the respective Houses of the Congress could hold that the terms of the senators and representative from that State commenced during the Eighty- - fifth Congress. This would, of course, bar the representative from Alaska from being seated in the new Eighty- - sixth Congress unless he were subsequently elected to that Congress in a new election, Likewise, the admission of the new State during the Eighty-fiftl Congress might bar the new senators from that State from being eligible to draw for a possible six-year term commencing at the beginning of the Eighty - sixth Congress. Admission of the new State before noon on January 3, 1959, would constitute admission during the Eighty-fift} Congress; admission subsequent to noon on January 3, 1959, would constitute admission during the Eighty-sixth Congress. Admission at precisely noon on January 3, 1959, might be deemed admission during either of those Congresses, and only the respective Houses of the Congress could finally resolve that issue and even they might arrive at contrary results. In order to avoid that issue and to assure that the com- mencement of the terms of those senators and representative will not be unduly delayed, the admission of the State should be accomplished immediately after the stroke of noon, official time, on January 3, 1959. This should not adversely affect the seniority of the Alaskan group because seniority among