Today in Supreme Court History: May 27, 1935

5/27/1935: Schechter Poultry Corp. v. U.S. decided.

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (decided May 27, 1935) (the “sick chicken case”): invalidated many provisions of National Industrial Recovery Act (which allowed Executive Branch to issue regulations as to sale of chickens, and as to wages, prices) as improper delegation of Congressional power, and outside Congress’s authority anyway because Commerce Clause power did not extend to effects on interstate commerce which were only indirect

San Antonio v. Hotels.com, LP, 593 U.S. 330 (decided May 27, 2021): FRAP 39(e), entitled “costs on appeal taxable in the District Court”, refers only to the location of the entry of costs and does not allow the District Court to change the determination of the Circuit Court as to costs on appeal made pursuant to 39(a)

SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293 (decided May 27, 1946): an offering of units of a citrus grove development is an “investment contract” under the Securities Act of 1933 and therefore has to be registered as a security

United States v. Schwimmer, 279 U.S. 644 (decided May 27, 1929): pacifist denied citizenship because during interview she refused to promise to take up arms in defense of the United States (not that, as a female, she would ever be required to!)

Plumhoff v. Rickard, 572 U.S. 765 (decided May 27, 2014): not unreasonable and not use of “excessive force” to shoot into vehicle during dangerous high-speed chase (over 100 mph); qualified immunity in §1983 suit

Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (decided May 27, 1935): commissioners with quasi-judicial-legislative (as opposed to executive) functions (like the FTC) can be removed by the President only for the reasons cited in the enabling act (such as “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance” in the FTC Act)

Green v. School Board of New Kent County, Va., 391 U.S. 430 (decided May 27, 1968): allowing students to choose the “white school” or the “black school” was in violation of Brown because black students in the previously all-white school were harassed and there was no integration as to 1) faculty, 2) staff, 3) transportation, 4) extracurricular activities or 5) facilities.

Hall v. Florida, 572 U.S. 701 (decided May 27, 2014): IQ is not sole factor of intellectual disability; striking down on Eighth Amendment grounds Florida rule that once IQ is found to be more than 70 no further exploration of lack of capacity defense is permitted

Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (decided May 27, 1901): goods from territories (oranges from Puerto Rico) were “imports” subject to duty charges because Congress can create revenue laws specific to territories (despite art. I, §8 which requires duties to be uniform throughout the U.S.)

United States v. Causby, 328 U.S. 256 (decided May 27, 1946): Disruptive use of airspace over property (Army planes coming off abutting airstrip which panicked and killed farmer’s chickens) was a compensable “taking” under the Fifth Amendment. (My grandparents lived across the street from a defense plant runway and the noise of fighter planes seeming to almost touch the chimney used to scare us; as we got older we got used to it.)

[Dilan Esper]

Justice Gorsuch hates Downes. He thinks the Constitution should apply to the territories, full stop.

Downes, of course, inspired Mr. Dooley's famous statement that he didn't know if the Constitution followed the flag, but the Supreme Court follows the election returns. It still does.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Dunne's work is hard for us to read because it's so heavily in accent (much out of style) but he put a lot of incisive wit into Mr. Dooley's mouth. My favorite is "Mr. Dooley's Dissertations" from 1906.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

"(not that, as a female, she would ever be required to!)"

Oh, they're working on that.

[Dan Schiavetta]

In 1980 Carter reinstituted draft registration. A friend of mine showed me her annual college loan application where she refused to answer whether she had registered -- she put a big "pX" (symbol for Christ) symbol over the whole question. It was simply not polite for me to point out that it was very easy for her to do that.

I was also our campus's delegate to a student convention on the issue. The "policy statement" drafted was full of feminist dogma. Again, it was not polite to say that it was only us guys, not the women there, who might end up dying face down in some Afghan desert. (Anyway it included so many "social justice" causes that only a small minority of students would agree with it, so when I got back to campus I made sure it never saw the light of day.)

[Frank Drackman]

Did your "Friend" have a dick? because only men were required to register for Jimmuh Cartuh's joke of a Draft registration.

Frank

[Frank Drackman]

As a Poultry Science Graduate( there’s more to it than Dark/White, there’s the Urea Cycle*and yes, the Chickens have large Talons) and a MOTT I find “Schechter” fascinating, it should be a Litmus test for every potential Surpreme.

Frank
*most people don’t even know what that is

[SRG2]

Hall wins 5-4. Easy to guess who the dissenters were.