Stafford v. Wallace - Significance, Stockyards In The Stream Of Commerce, Taking On The Monopolies, Defining And Expanding The Concept
court petitioner respondent authority
Petitioner
Stafford and Company, a firm engaged in the buying and selling of livestock
Respondent
Henry C. Wallace, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Petitioner's Claim
That the operation of stockyards did not constitute interstate commerce, and therefore Congress did not have authority under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921.
Chief Lawyer for Petitioner
E. Godman
Chief Lawyer for Respondent
James Montgomery Beck, U.S. Solicitor General
Justices for the Court
Louis D. Brandeis, John Hessin Clarke, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Joseph McKenna, Mahlon Pitney, William Howard Taft (writing for the Court), Willis Van Devanter
Justices Dissenting
James Clark McReynolds (William Rufus Day did not participate)
Place
Washington, D.C.
Date of Decision
1 May 1922
Decision
Upheld the authority of Congress to enforce the act over stockyards, which the Court ruled were not "places of rest or a final destination," but rather "a throat through which the current of commerce flows."
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