Brief Fact Summary. Congress made a delegation of power to the President of the United States under Section:9(c) of the National Industrial Recovery Act which exceeded constitutional limits.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. There are limits of delegation which there is no constitutional authority to transcend. Although the Constitution has never been regarded as denying to Congress the necessary resources of flexibility and practicality, Congress is forbidden to delegate the essential legislative functions which it is vested by Article I, Section:1 and Article I, Section:8 of the United States Constitution.
So far as this section is concerned, it gives to the President an unlimited authority to determine the policy and to lay down the prohibition, or not to lay it down, as he may see fit.
View Full Point of LawIssue. Was the delegation of power to the President under Section:9(c) of the National Industrial Recovery Act an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power?
Held. Yes. The attempted delegation was plainly void because the power sought to be delegated was legislative power, but nowhere in the statute did Congress declare or indicate any policy or standard to guide or limit the President when acting under the delegation. Dissent. Justice Cardozo felt that the “declaration of policy” in Section:1 of the Act, stating that there was a national emergency, was a sufficient definition of a standard to make the statute valid. Concurrence. None.
Discussion. The Executive Orders and regulations issued by the Secretary of Interior were void because the delegation of power to the President under Section:9(c) was without constitutional authority.