United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.

United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 19–20, 1936 Decided December 21, 1936
Full case name	United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation et al.
Citations	299 U.S. 304 (more) 299 U.S. 304, 57 S.Ct. 216, 81 L.Ed. 255
Prior history	Judgment sustaining a demurrer to the indictment, 14 F.Supp. 230 (D. D.C. 1932)
Holding
Found in favor of the government, reasoning that while the Constitution may not explicitly say that all ability to conduct foreign policy on behalf of the nation is vested in the President, it is nonetheless given implicitly and by the fact that the Executive, by its very nature, is empowered to conduct foreign affairs in a way which Congress cannot and should not.
Court membership
Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes Associate Justices Willis Van Devanter · James C. McReynolds Louis Brandeis · George Sutherland Pierce Butler · Harlan F. Stone Owen J. Roberts · Benjamin N. Cardozo
Case opinions
Majority	Sutherland
Dissent	McReynolds
Stone took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U.S. 304 (1936), was a United States Supreme Court case involving principles of both governmental regulation of business and the supremacy of the executive branch of the federal government to conduct foreign affairs.

The Facts

In Curtiss-Wright, the Supreme Court concluded not only that foreign affairs power was vested in the national government as a whole, but that the President of the United States had “plenary” powers in the foreign affairs field not dependent upon congressional delegation.

Congress, acting by joint resolution, had authorized the President to place an embargo on arms shipments to countries at war in the Chaco region of South America. Acting pursuant to the resolution, President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed such an embargo. When Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. was indicted for violating the embargo through the sale of machine guns to Bolivia, it defended itself on the grounds that the embargo and the proclamation were void because Congress had improperly delegated legislative power to the executive branch by leaving what was essentially a legislative determination to the President's “unfettered discretion.”

In 1936 the defendant Curtiss-Wright Corporation was charged with illegally sending arms of war to Bolivia prior to the revocation of the first proclamation. Despite the controversy surrounding it, the Curtiss-Wright decision is one of the Supreme Court's most influential. Most cases involving conflicts between the executive and legislative branches involve political questions that the courts refuse to adjudicate. Therefore, the sweeping language of Curtiss-Wright is regularly cited to support executive branch claims of power to act without congressional authorization in foreign affairs, especially when there is no judicial intervention to interpret the meaning of that text.

Issue

The defendant raised several issues for consideration by the Court:

1. Did the Joint Resolution passed by Congress grant too much authority (and legislative power) to the President, in violation of the non-delegation doctrine?
2. Was the President required by due process considerations to make findings of fact in support of the proclamation?
3. Did the revocation of the May 1934 proclamation operate to eliminate the penalty for its violation?

Decision of the Court

The Court reasoned that, while the Constitution may not explicitly say that all ability to conduct foreign policy on behalf of the nation is vested in the President, such power is nonetheless granted implicitly. Moreover, said the Court, the Executive, by its very nature, is empowered to conduct foreign affairs in a way which Congress cannot and should not. The Court stated that "there is sufficient warrant for the broad discretion vested in the President to determine whether the enforcement of the statute will have a beneficial effect upon the reestablishment of peace in the affected countries."

The upshot of this ruling not only upheld export limitations on the grounds of national security (similar ones still exist today) but also established the broader principle of executive supremacy in national security and foreign affairs – one of the reasons advanced in the 1950s in favor of the almost-successful attempt to add the Bricker Amendment to the Constitution.

The Court has not recognized the full scope of executive power suggested by Justice Sutherland's sweeping language. Congressional authorization may be necessary to legitimize many executive acts. In Regan v. Wald (1984), for example, the Supreme Court cited Curtiss-Wright in upholding the constitutionality of the president's regulations restricting travel to Cuba expressly on the ground that they had been authorized by Congress. On the other hand, in Federal Energy Administration v. Algonquin SNG, Inc. (1976), the Court validated presidential restrictions on oil imports based on very broad congressional language delegating apparently unlimited regulatory authority to the executive branch. In an opinion written by Justice Sutherland, the Supreme Court rejected these arguments and found in favor of the government.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 299

Further reading

• Robert A. Divine, “The Case of the Smuggled Bombers,” in Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution, edited by John A. Garraty (New York: Harper & Row, 1987)

External links

• ^ 299 U.S. 304 Full text of the opinion courtesy of Findlaw.com.
• Summary of case from OYEZ