Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States

1. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States Argued: May 2,3, 1935 Decided: May 27, 1935

2. Schechter Poultry Corporation Schechter Poultry Corp. purchased live poultry from commissioned vendors in New York City and Philadelphia, and sold slaughtered chickens to retailers in Brooklyn after processing the meat. Schechter Poultry was charged by the federal government with selling “unfit chickens”, or sick and unsalable chickens, illegally selling chickens to • individuals or nonlicensed buyers, evading inspections, and creating false business records. • Schechter was convicted in a federal district court, and after losing an appeal, appealed to the Supreme Court which saw the case in 1935.

3. In 1934, the Live Poultry Code had been written under the authority and as part of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). NIRA had been a Congressional law passed to regulate business to fight the economic damage of the Great Depression. • Section 3 of NIRA granted the executive branch the ability to write “codes of unfair competition” to regulate business. One of the codes passed under this was the Live Poultry Code, in which Roosevelt’s administration fixed minimum wages, maximum hours, and banned methods that gave businesses unfair advantages.

4. In the Supreme Court The NIRA had essentially given the executive branch the power to write legislations without the approval of Congress, which contradicted the Constitution in that all powers of legislation were to be vested in Congress as according to Article I. The wording of “unfair competition” as a source for writing business codes was found to be too ambiguous to accurately limit presidential actions. Additionally, the Supreme Court found that the Schechter Poultry Corp. fell within intrastate commerce, and since Congress only had the power to regulate “interstate commerce” as found in the Commerce Clause, Schechter fell outside of the Live Poultry Code’s and Congress’ reign.

5. DECISION The Supreme Court determined that the National Industrial Recovery Act, which was part of the New Deal, was unconstitutional, Congress had exceeded its Constitutional powers, and the separation of powers contained within the Constitution had been violated.

6. Response to the Decision In effect, the Supreme Court had nearly destroyed the programs of the 1930s of the New Deal. President Roosevelt reacted by attempting a “court packing” scheme in 1937, in which he proposed that a new Supreme Court justice could be appointed for every sitting justice over the age of 70. This would have idyllically bolstered Roosevelt’s power and influence within the Supreme Court, but the scheme failed in Congress and never became law.