A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States

Petitioner

A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corporation

Respondent

United States

Petitioner's Claim

That the code of fair business practice established under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 could not affect its business because the code did not have the force of law.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

Joseph Heller

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

Donald P. Richberg

Justices for the Court

Louis D. Brandeis, Pierce Butler, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Charles Evans Hughes (writing for the Court), James Clark McReynolds, Owen Josephus Roberts, Harlan Fiske Stone, George Sutherland, Willis Van Devanter

Justices Dissenting

None

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

27 May 1935

Decision

That the federal legislation establishing the National Recovery Administration was unconstitutional in that it delegated too much law-making power to non-governmental individuals.

Significance

The decision overturned the major effort of the first administration of Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1937) to regulate and control the economy during the Great Depression.

Related Cases

• McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316 (1819).
• National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel, 301 U.S. 1 (1937).

Sources

Bacon, Donald C., et al., eds. The Encyclopedia of the United States Congress New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Further Readings

• Johnson, Hugh. Blue Eagle, From Egg to Earth. New York: Greenwood Press, 1968 (1935).
• Ohl, John K. Hugh S. Johnson and the New Deal. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1985.
• Richberg, D. R. The Rainbow, after the Sunshine of Prosperity, the Deluge of the Depression. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1936