Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell

Appellant

Home Building & Loan Association

Appellee

John H. Blaisdell

Appellant's Claim

That the 1933 Minnesota Mortgage Moratorium Law, intended to avert mortgage foreclosures during the Great Depression, violated the Contract Clause of Article I of the Constitution, which bars state impairment of the obligations of contracts.

Chief Lawyers for Appellant

Karl H. Covell, Alfred W. Bowen

Chief Lawyers for Appellee

Harry H. Peterson, William S. Ervin

Justices for the Court

Louis D. Brandeis, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Charles Evans Hughes (writing for the Court), Owen Josephus Roberts, Harlan Fiske Stone

Justices Dissenting

Pierce Butler, James Clark McReynolds, George Sutherland, Willis Van Devanter

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

8 January 1934

Decision

By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court upheld the Minnesota statute.

Related Cases

• Railroad Commission Cases, 116 U.S. 307 (1886).
• Block v. Hirsch, 256 U.S. 135 (1921).
• Marcus Brown Holding Co. v. Feldman, 256 U.S. 170 (1921).
• Edgar A. Levy Leasing Co. v. Siegel, 258 U.S. 242 (1922).
• Stephenson v. Binford, 287 U.S. 251 (1932).

Sources

World Book Encyclopedia, 1993, p. 364.

Further Readings

• Butler, Henry N. The Corporation and the Constitution. Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995.
• Lash, Joseph P. Dealers and Dreamers: A New Look at the New Deal. New York: Doubleday, 1988.
• Leuchtenburg, William Edward. The Supreme Court Reborn: The Constitutional Revolution in the Age of Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.