VI-b. (Source: U.S. Supreme Court. In 343 U.S. Reports 579, October Term, 1951 (decided June 2, 1952))

Syllabus.

YOUNGSTOWN SHEET & TUBE CO. ET AL.
v. SAWYER.

NO. 744.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT.*

Argued May 12-13, 1952-Decided June 2, 1952.

To avert a nation-wide strike of steel workers in April 1952, which he believed would jeopardize national defense, the President issued an Executive Order directing the Secretary of Commerce to seize and operate most of the steel mills. The Order was not based upon any specific statutory authority but was based generally upon all powers vested in the President by the Constitution and laws of the United States and as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. The Secretary issued an order seizing the steel mills and directing their presidents to operate them as operating managers for the United States in accordance with his regulations and directions. The President promptly reported these events to Congress; but Congress took no action. It had provided other methods of dealing with such situations and had refused to authorize governmental seizures of property to settle labor disputes. The steel companies sued the Secretary in a Federal District Court, praying for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. The District Court issued a preliminary injunction, which the Court of Appeals stayed. Held:

1. Although this case has proceeded no further than the preliminary injunction stage, it is ripe for determination of the constitutional validity of the Executive Order on the record presented. Pp. 584-585.

(a) Under prior decisions of this Court, there is doubt as to the right to recover in the Court of Claims on account of properties unlawfully taken by government officials for public use. P. 585.

(b) Seizure and governmental operation of these going businesses were bound to result in many present and future damages of such nature as to be difficult, if not incapable, of measurement. P. 585.

*Together with No. 745, Sawyer, Secretary of Commerce, v. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. et al., also on certiorari to the same.

court.

2. The Executive Order was not authorized by the Constitution or laws of the United States; and it cannot stand. Pp. 585-589. (a) There is no statute which expressly or impliedly authorizes the President to take possession of this property as he did here. Pp. 585-586.

(b) In its consideration of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, Congress refused to authorize governmental seizures of property as a method of preventing work stoppages and settling labor disputes. P. 586.

(c) Authority of the President to issue such an order in the circumstances of this case cannot be implied from the aggregate of his powers under Article II of the Constitution. Pp. 587-589. (d) The Order cannot properly be sustained as an exercise of the President's military power as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. P. 587.

(e) Nor can the Order be sustained because of the several provisions of Article II which grant executive power to the President. Pp. 587-589.

(f) The power here sought to be exercised is the lawmaking power, which the Constitution vests in the Congress alone, in both good and bad times. Pp. 587-589.

(g) Even if it be true that other Presidents have taken possession of private business enterprises without congressional authority in order to settle labor disputes, Congress has not thereby lost its exclusive constitutional authority to make the laws necessary and proper to carry out all powers vested by the Constitution "in the Government of the United States, or any Department or Officer thereof." Pp. 588-589.

103 F. Supp. 569, affirmed.

For concurring opinion of MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER, see post, p. 593.

For concurring opinion of MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, see post, p. 629. For concurring opinion of MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, see post, p. 634. For concurring option of MR. JUSTICE BURTON, see post, p. 655. For opinion of MR. JUSTICE CLARK, concurring in the judgment of the Court, see post, p. 660.

For dissenting opinion of MR. CHIEF JUSTICE VINSON, joined by MR. JUSTICE REED and MR. JUSTICE MINTON, see post, p. 667.

The District Court issued a preliminary injunction restraining the Secretary of Commerce from carrying out the terms of Executive Order No. 10340, 16 Fed. Reg.

3503. 103 F. Supp. 569.

The Court of Appeals issued a stay. 90 U. S. App. D. C., 197 F. 2d 582. This Court granted certiorari. 343 U. S. 937. The judgment of the District Court is affirmed, p. 589.

John W. Davis argued the cause for petitioners in No. 744 and respondents in No. 745. On the brief were Mr. Davis, Nathan L. Miller, John Lord O'Brian, Roger M. Blough, Theodore Kiendl, Porter R. Chandler and Howard C. Westwood for the United States Steel Co.; Bruce Bromley, E. Fontaine Broun and John H. Pickering for the Bethlehem Steel Co.; Luther Day, T. F. Patton, Edmund L. Jones, Howard Boyd and John C. Gall for the Republic Steel Corp.; John C. Bane, Jr., H. Parker Sharp and Sturgis Warner for the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.; Mr. Gall, John J. Wilson and J. E. Bennett for the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. et al.; Charles H. Tuttle, Winfred K. Petigrue and Joseph P. Tumulty, Jr. (who also filed an additional brief) for the Armco Steel Corp. et al.; and Randolph W. Childs, Edgar S. McKaig and James Craig Peacock (who also filed an additional brief) for E. J. Lavino & Co., petitioners in No. 744 and respondents in No. 745.

Solicitor General Perlman argued the cause for respondent in No. 744 and petitioner in No. 745. With him on the brief were Assistant Attorney General Baldridge, James L. Morrisson, Samuel D. Slade, Oscar H. Davis, Robert W. Ginnane, Marvin E. Frankel, Benjamin Forman and Herman Marcuse.

By special leave of Court, Clifford D. O'Brien and Harold C. Heiss argued the cause for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers et al., as amici curiae, supporting petitioners in No. 744 and respondents in No. 745. With them on the brief were Ruth Weyand and V. C. Shuttleworth.

78-505 0-67-pt. 1-26

By special leave of Court, Arthur J. Goldberg argued the cause for the United Steelworkers of America, C. I. O., as amicus curiae. With him on the brief was Thomas E. Harris.

MR. JUSTICE BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

We are asked to decide whether the President was acting within his constitutional power when he issued an order directing the Secretary of Commerce to take possession of and operate most of the Nation's steel mills. The mill owners argue that the President's order amounts to lawmaking, a legislative function which the Constitution has expressly confided to the Congress and not to the President. The Government's position is that the order was made on findings of the President that his action was necessary to avert a national catastrophe which would inevitably result from a stoppage of steel production, and that in meeting this grave emergency the President was acting within the aggregate of his constitutional powers as the Nation's Chief Executive and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States. The issue emerges here from the following series of events:

In the latter part of 1951, a dispute arose between the steel companies and their employees over terms and conditions that should be included in new collective bargaining agreements. Long-continued conference's failed to resolve the dispute. On December 18, 1951, the employees' representative, United Steelworkers of America, C. I. O., gave notice of an intention to strike when the existing bargaining agreements expired on December 31. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service then intervened in an effort to get labor and management to agree. This failing, the President on December 22, 1951, referred the dispute to the Federal Wage Stabilization