Admin Law
Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan
President, by Executive Order, prohibited "the transportation in interstate and
foreign commerce of petroleum and the products thereof produced or withdrawn
from storage in excess of the amount permitted to be produced or withdrawn from
storage by any State law or valid regulation or order prescribed thereunder, by any
board, commission, officer, or other duly%% [*406] % %authorized agency of a State."
Plaintiffs attacked the validity of%% [***454] % %§ 9 (c) as an unconstitutional delegation
to the President of legislative power and as transcending the authority of the
Congress under the%commerce clause. The regulations, and the attempts to enforce
them by coming upon the properties of the plaintiffs, gauging their tanks, digging
up pipe lines, and otherwise, were also assailed under the%Fourth%and%Fifth
Amendments of the Constitution.
Issue:
Were the executive orders and regulations made by the President under § 9 (c) of
Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 constitutional?
Delegation of power
Answer: No.
The Court noted that there were limits of delegation for which there was no
constitutional authority to transcend. Here, § 9(c) was found to go beyond those
limits. As to the transportation of oil production in excess of state permission,
Congress had declared no policy, had established no standard, and had laid down
no rule. There was no requirement or definition of circumstances and conditions in
which the transportation of petroleum was to be allowed or prohibited. Furthermore,
the Court found another objection to the validity of the prohibition laid down by
executive orders under § 9(c) in that the executive orders contained no finding or
statement of the grounds of the President's action in enacting the prohibition.
Accordingly, the executive orders and the regulations issued thereunder were
without constitutional authority.
A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States
Facts:
Defendant, a corporation, was convicted of violating the Live Poultry Code, which
was promulgated under § 3 of the National Industrial Recovery Act,%15 U.S.C.S. §
703. The Act authorized the President to approve codes of fair competition, and the
Code was approved by an executive order. This was questioned as an invalid
delegation of legislative power.
Rule:
