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Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell - Significance, Supreme Court Finds That The Contract Clause Is Not Absolute, Size Of The Supreme Court

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.

Additional Topics

Home Building Loan Association v. Blaisdell - Significance

Blaisdell is important not just because it upheld a significant Depression-era law modeled on the New Deal, but because the close vote in the case illustrates the deep schism between those who endorsed a radically progressive approach to the nation's woes and those who wanted to perpetuate the Court's laissez-faire attitude towards economic matters. In 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, M…

Home Building Loan Association v. Blaisdell - Supreme Court Finds That The Contract Clause Is Not Absolute

Chief Justice Hughes and swing vote Justice Roberts joined the more liberal members of the Court to create a one-vote majority favoring the Blaisdells and upholding the Minnesota statute. Writing for the Court, Hughes noted that, "While emergency does not create power, emergency may furnish the occasion for exercise of power." The state, he said, had always held the power to protect its citizens. …

Home Building Loan Association v. Blaisdell - Size Of The Supreme Court

There are currently nine justices serving on the Supreme Court: one chief justice and eight associate justices. The number was established in 1869 and has not been altered since. According to Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution, Congress has the power to determine the structure and jurisdiction of the federal judicial system. Congress has changed the size of the Supreme Court on seven diffe…

Home Building Loan Association v. Blaisdell - The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a period of U.S. and worldwide economic depression during the 1930s, characterized by failing businesses, rampant unemployment, and decreased prices for agricultural products. The Great Depression began with the stock market crash of 1929 and lasted for roughly a decade--the longest depression experienced by industrialized nations. Due to decreasing value of assets caused …

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User Comments Add a comment…

almost 2 years ago

efto1

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