Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiffs representing livestock marketing agencies brought suit against the Secretary of Agriculture regarding an order setting livestock market prices.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. “To give the substance of a hearing, which is for the purpose of making determination upon evidence, the officer who makes the determinations must consider and appraise the evidence which justifies them.â€
A proceeding of this sort requiring the taking and weighing of evidence, determinations of fact based upon the consideration of the evidence, and the making of an order supported by such findings, has a quality resembling that of a judicial proceeding.
View Full Point of LawIssue. Whether the allegations should have been stricken.
Held. No. The Supreme Court of the United States (the Court) noted the import of the allegation that “the Secretary made the rate order without having heard or read any of the evidence, and without having heard the oral arguments or having read or considered the briefs which the plaintiffs submitted.†All of this was given to the Acting Secretary. In the Court’s opinion, because it was “Secretary…assume[d] the responsibility†of issuing the order, it should have been the Secretary who was present for the hearing. The hearing was of “quasi-judicial nature,†and the allegations should not have been stricken.
Discussion. “The one who decides must hear.â€