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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 5, 1952)
Thursday, June I, 1SS1 MEDfORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE THREE Text of (Editor'! nolti Because oi the widespread inUrait in the Supreme Court's decision reversing President Truman's seisure oi the nation's steel mills, the majority opinion, js delivered br Justice Black, is herewith printed in lull.) Washington Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court. We are asked to decide wheth er the President was acting with in 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 PrMiHont's order amounts to law making, a legislative function which the Constitution has ex pressly confided to the Congress and not to the President.- i The Government's position is that the order was made on find lno nf the President lhat his action was necessary to avert a national catastrophe which would inevitably result from a stop page of teel production, and that in meeting this grave emergency the President was acting within the aggregate of his constitu tional powers as the Nation's Chief Executive and the Com mander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States Basia of Issue The issue emerges here from h follnwinff series of events: in the latter Dart of 1951, a dispute arose between the steel companies and tneir employees over terms and conditions that should be included in new col lective bargaining agreements Long-continued conferences fail H n resolve the dispute. On De cember 18, 1981, the employees' representative, U n 1 1 e a oieei workers of America, CIO, gave nntfnp nt an intention to strike when the existing bargaining agreements expired on Decern ber 31. - Thorntinnn the Federal Medi- tiin and r.nnpilliation Service intervened in an effort to get lahnr nnH management to agree. This failing, the President on December 22, 1951, reterrea xne LflMDK ON Page 3 SECTION TWO TODAY FOR GROCETERIA SAVINGS! t9 i Many More $ "P Htre's Yesr "Dresa Bilce" WITH ALL THIS! GREAT FIATURESt 0 CJaresso rosadaarSj fssvsi TesBteiBO ioroaael soddha Vtoe fee. Decision Revoking Steel Mill dispute to the Federal Wage Sta bilization Board (1) to investigate and make recommendations for fair and equitable terms of set tlement. This board's report re sulted in no settlement. Union Gave Notice On April 3, 1952, the union gave notice of a nationwide strike called to begin at 12:01 a.m., April 9. The . indispensability of steel as a component of substantially all weapons and other war ma terials led the President to oe lieve that the proposed work stoppage would immediately jeopardize our national defense and that governmental seizure of the steel mills was necessary In order to assure the continued availability of steel. Reciting these considerations for his ac tions, the President, a few hours before the strike was to begin: issued Executive Order No. 10.340. a copy of which is at tached at the end of this opinion as an appendix. The order direct ed the Secretary of commerce to take possession of and operate most of the steel mills mrougn out the country. Orders Issued The secretary immediately is sued his own possessory orders, calling upon the Presidents ot the various companies to serve as operating -managers for the United States. They were direct ed- to carry on their activities in ' accordance with regulations and directions of the Secretary. The next morning the Presi dent sent a message to Congress reporting his action. Cong. Rec, April 9, 1952, p. 3,962. Twelve davs later he sent a second mes sage. Cong. Rec, April 21, 1952, p. 4,192 Congress has taken no action. Obevina the Secretary's orders under protest, the companies brought proceedings against him in-the district court. Their com- nlaints charaed that the seizure was not authorized by an act of Congress or by any constitution al provisions. The district court was asked to declare the orders of the President and Secretary invalid and to issue preliminary and permanent injunctions re straining their enforcement. Opposing' the motion for pre liminary injunction, tne unueo. States asserted that a strike dis rupting steel production for even a brief period would so endan- eer the well-being ana sareiy of the Nation that the President had "inherent power" to do what he had done power "supported by the Constitution, by histori cal nrecedent, and by court de cisions." The Government also contended that in any event no preliminary injunction should be issued because the companies had made no showing that their available legal remedies were inadequate or that their injuries from seizure would be irrepar able.; - Holding against the . Govern ment on all points, the district court on April 30 issued a pre liminary injunction restraining the Secretary from "continuing the seizure and possession of the plant . . . and from acting under the purported authority of Execu tive Order No. 10,340." 103 F, Supp. 659. On the same day the It's Schwinn Bike Time On Sale at Johnston Stores 00 Down Models on Display PANTHER $7990 WE PAY 800 StH GREEN STAMPS frwwfc mm . court of appeals stayed the dis- trict court's injunction. Deeming, it best that the issues raised be promptly decided by this court, we granted certiorari on May 3 and set the cause for argument on May 12. Crucial Issues Two crucial issues have de veloped. First, should final de termination of the Constitutional validity of the President's order be made in this case which has proceeded no further than the preliminary injunction -stage? Second, if so, is the seizure order within the Constitutional power of the President? It is urged that there were non-constitutional grounds upon which the district court could have denied the preliminary in iunction and thus have followed the customary practice of de clining to reach and decide con stitutional questions until com pelled to do so. On this basis it is argued that Equity's extra ordinary injunction relief should have been denied because (a) seizure of the companies' prop erties did not inflict irreparable damages, and (b) there were available legal remedies ade quate to afford compensations for any possible damages wnicn they might suffer. Closely Related While separately argued by the Government, these two con tentions are here closely related, if not identical. Arguments as to both rest in large part on the Government's claim that should the seizure ultimately be held unlawful, the companies could recover full compensation in the court of claims for the unlawful taking. Prior cases in this court have cast doubt on the right to recover in the court of claims on account of properties unlawfully taken by Government officials for public use as these proper ties were alleged to have been. See E. G-. Hooe v. United States, 218 U. S. 322, 335-336; United States v. North American Co., 253 U. S. 330, 333. But see Lar son v. Domestic & Foreign Corp., 337 tJ.- S. 682, 701-702. More over, seizure and government op eration of these going businesses were bound to result in many present and future damages of such nature as to be aitncuii, if. not incapable, of measure ment. Viewing the case this way, and in the light of the facts present ed, the District Court saw no reason for delaying decision of the Constitutional validity of the orders. We agree with the Dis trict Court and can see no rea son why that question was not ripe for determination on the record presented. We shall there fore consider and determine that question now. No Authority Statute The President's power to Issue the order must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself . . There is no statute that expressly authorizes the President to take possession of property as he did here. Nor is there any act of Congress to which our attention has been di rected from which such power can fairly be implied. Indeed, we do not understand the govern ment to rely on statutory author- We Give S&H Green Stamps THE GREAT "CHAIUKGER" One of the Bikes on the $6295 WI PAY 630 S&H GREEN STAMPS MfcrewWeW Geereefsorf m mm et reded. Ization for this seizure. There are two statutes which do authorize the President to take both per sonal and real property under certain conditions. (2) However, the government admits that these conditions were not met and that the President's order was not rooted in either of them. The government refers to the seizure provisions of one of these statutes (Section 201 (B) of the defense production act) as much too cumbersome, involved, and time consuming for the crisis which was at hand. . Moreover, the use of the seiz ure technique to solve labor dis putes in order to prevent work stoppages was not . only unau thorized by. any congressional enactment; prior to this contro versy, Congress had ; retusea to adopt that method of settling la bor disputes. ' Rejected When the Taft-Hartley act was under consideration in 1947, Con gress rejected an amendment which would have authorized such governmental seizures in cases of emergency. (3) Appar ently it was thought that the techniaue of seizure, like that of compulsory arbitration, would in terfere with the process of col lective bargaining. -(4) Conse quently, the plan Congress adopted in that act did not pro vide for seizure under any cir cumstances. Instead, the plan sought to bring . about settle ments by use of the customary devices of mediation, . ' concilia tion, investigation -by, boards of inauirv. and public reports. In some Instances temporary in junctions were authorized to pro vide cooling-off periods. All this failing, the unions were left free to strike if the majority of the employees, by secret ballot, ex pressed a desire tcr do so. 19) It is clear that if the President had authority to issue the order he did, it must be found in some provisions of the Constitution And it is not claimed that ex- press constitutional language grants this power to trie Presi dent. The contention is that presidential power, should be im plied from the aggregate of his powers under Article II of the Constitution. Particular reliance is placed on the provisions which say that "the executive power shall be vested in a Fresi- Ident . . .;" that , "he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed;" and that he "shall be commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. j .. .' No Such Power ?i The order cannot properly be sustained as ah exercise of the President's military power as Commander-in-Chief of the arm ed forces. The Government at tempts to do so by citing a num ber of cases' upholding broad powers in military-commanders engaged in day-to-day fighting in a theater of war. Such eases need not concern us here. Even though "theater of war" be an expanding ' concept,' we cannot with faithfulness to our constitu tional system hold that the Commander-in-chief : of t h e . armed forces has the ultimate power as such to take possession of pri vate property in order to keep 00 cb week SCHWINtJ - BIELT Hottest Rood! Fellowe, jm sent W Me for looks end alue. The Bchwinn-boilt Challenger hat truae rede, tegfage carrier, chain rn.H, built-in kick UimI, Rocket-Ray headlight, reflector, tank vita kmH-ia horn. u. labor disputes from stopping pro-! duction. This is a job for the Nation's lawmakers, not for its military authorities. Nor can the seizure order be sustained because of the several constitutional provisions that grant executive power to the President. In the framework of our Constitution, the President's power to see that the laws are faithfully executed refutes the idea that he is to be a lawmaker. The Constitution limits his func tions in the lawmaking process to the recommending of laws he thinks wise and the vetoing of laws he thinks bad. And the Con stitution is neither silent nor equivocal about who shall make laws which the President is to execute. The first section of the first article says that "all legis lative powers herein, granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States . . ." After granting many powers to the Congress, Article I goes on to provide that Congress may make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry ing into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof." Rule Denial The President's order does not direct that a congressional policy be executed in a manner pre scribed by Congress It directs that a presidential policy be exe cuted in a manner prescribed by the President. The preamble of the order itself, like that of many statutes, sets out reasons why the President believes certain policies should be adopted, pro claims these policies as rules of conduct to be followed, and again, like a statute, autiiorizes a Government official to pro mulgate additional rules and regulations consistent with the policy proclaimed and needed to carry that policy into execu tion. The power of Congress to adopt such public policies as those proclaimed by the order is beyond question. It can authroize the taking of private property for public use. It can make laws regulating the relationships be tween employers and em ployees, prescribing rules - de signed to settle labor disputes, and fixing wages and working conditions in certain fields of our economy. The Constitution did not subject this law-making power of Congress to presiden tial or military supervision or control. r - It is said that other Presidents without congressional authority have taken possession of private business enterprises in order to settle labor disputes. But even if this be true, Congress has not thereby lost its exclusive con stitutional authority to make laws necessary and proper to carry out the powers vested by the Constitution in the Goven- ment of the United States, or any department or officer there of." Cannot Stand The founders of this Nation en trusted the lawmaking power to the Congress alone in both good and bad times. It would Get Speed Good Looks Plus Schwinn-Built Quality $4695 loyt' and Girl' Models A Sherds' rVvase a) ieatfs)sj rteAejk PeHrfntf sfoissft leyf' tmt kh' madtli. See If Today! Ben! Behwimt-bnilt dependability at an urmimn.y at tractive price Built for speed and durability. Equipped with parking stand and reflector. Tope in performance and priced tow. We'll Open Your Account In a Minute 8 A.M. to 6 P.M. DRIVE - IN QS j FIRST I C3 HOP PGR ) Seizure do no good to recall the historical events, the fears of power and the hopes for freedom that lay behind their choice. Such a re view would but confirm our holding that this seizure order cannot stand. - The judgment of the District Court is affirmed. Mr. Justice Frankfurter. Although the considerations relevant to the legal enforcement of the principle of separation of powers seem to be more compli cated and flexible than may ap pear from what Mr. Justice Black has written, I join his opinion because .1 throughly agree with the application of the , principle to the circum stances of this case. Even though such differences in attitude to ward this principle may be mere ly differences in emphasis and nuance, they can be reflected by a single opinion for the court. Individual expression of views in reaching a common result Is therefore important. Appended to the majority opin ion was the text of President Truman's order of April 8 di recting seizure of the steel in dustry. Footnotes: 1 This board was established under executive order 10,233, 16 Federal Register 3,503. ' 2 The Selective Service Act of 1948, 62 Stat. 604, 625-627, 50 U.S.C. App. (Supp. IV) Sec tion 468; the Defense Produc tion Act of 1950, Tit; II, 64 Stat. 798 as amended, 65 Stat. 138, 3 93 Congressional Record 3637-3645. 4 93 Congressional Record 3835-3836. 5 Labor Management Rela tions Act, 1947, 61 Stat. 136, 152-156, 29 U.S.C. (Supp. IV) Sections 141, 171-180. The best reel in the world won't work well with the wrong line. Match the two well, and it would take a mighty poor rod to spoil your casting. But this re lationship does not apply to fly casting. Sports Afield. Court Records DISTRICT COURT Gene Ray Renfro, possession of alco holic liquor, $10. , Roland D. Miller, overload, 16. James F. Keeton, 1168 Blddle lane, driving while intoxicated, $100. 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