![]() ![]() The pivotal proposition of the opinion of the Court is that, inasmuch as Congress could have directed the seizure of the steel mills, the President had no power to do so without prior congressional authorization. Even if it were true that other Presidents have taken possession of private business enterprises without congressional authority in order to settle labor disputes, Congress was not thereby divested of 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.” 784 The Doctrine Considered The power sought to be exercised was the lawmaking power, which the Constitution vests in the Congress alone. Authority to issue such an order in the circumstances of the case was not deducible from the aggregate of the President’s executive powers under Article II of the Constitution nor was the order maintainable as an exercise of the President’s powers as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. On the contrary, 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. The chief points urged in the Black opinion are the following: There was no statute that expressly or impliedly authorized the President to take possession of the property involved. 782 The holding and the multiple opinions represent a setback for the adherents of “inherent” executive powers, 783 but they raise difficult conceptual and practical problems with regard to presidential powers. 781 Sixtothree, the Court affirmed the district court order, each member of the majority, however, contributing an individual opinion as well as joining in some degree the opinion of the Court by Justice Black. 779 The steel companies sued, a federal district court enjoined the seizure, 780 and the Supreme Court brought the case up prior to decision by the court of appeals. The President promptly reported his action to Congress, conceding Congress’s power to supersede his order, but Congress did not do so, either then or a few days later when the President sent up a special message. ![]() The Secretary issued the appropriate orders to steel executives. 778 The order cited no specific statutory authorization but invoked generally the powers vested in the President by the Constitution and laws of the United States. ![]() To avert a nationwide strike of steel workers that he believed would jeopardize the national defense, President Truman, on April 8, 1952, issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Commerce to seize and operate most of the steel industry of the country. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States. ![]()
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