POS lesson 16

article II sec 1

vests executive power in the President

article II sec 2

the president shall be Command in Chief of the Army and Navy

article II sec 3

the President must “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”

justice kagan is the only justice who?

has served as solicitor general for the President

(the president’s lawyer)

who can declare war?

Article I Sec 8: Congressional Enumerated Powers

• to declare war, grant letters of Marque and Reprisal and make rules concerning captures on land and water

• to raise and support armies

• to promote and maintain the navy

who swears in the president

it is not written in the Constitution, however, it is often the Chief Justice

• a chief has never missed a proper swearing-in

• Marshall swore the most Presidents

Executive Order 9066

who, what, when

who: signed in by FDR

what: authorized the Secretary of war and the armed forces to remove people of Japanese ancestry from what they designated as military areas and surround communities in the US → set in to motion the mass transportation of more than 120,000 Japanese-americans

when: following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese → congress declares war

what did Korematsu do

• he had plastic surgery to alter his appearance and changed his name claiming Spanish and Hawaiian descent

• he failed to report to a relocation center

question SCOTUS was answering

did the president and congress go beyond their war powers by implementing and restricting the rights of Japanese decent?

what reason did the SCOTUS give for upholding the executive order

6-3

the detention was a “military necessity“ not based on race, to protect the country from invasion (justice black)

Korematsu v US (1944)

• korematsu challenged the government action taken pursuant to an executive order

• Korematsu challenged an exclusion order

why did the courts reopen and reconsider the Korematsu decision? (1983)

• the plaintiff asked the court to reopen the case

• a professor discovered evidence that the US solicitor general’s office did not truthfully present all information in the original case

on what legal ground did Justice Black uphold the exclusion order in Korematsu

not all restriction are inherently unconstitutional

* pressing public necessity

on what legal ground did Justice Jackson dissent

the nation’s wartime security concerns were not adequate to strip Korematsu and others of their constitutionally protected civil rights

* legalization of racism that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment

Trump v. Hawaii (2018)

SCOTUS upheld EO suspending entry of foreign nations from counties identified by congress/ the executive as presenting heightened terrorism risk

(2018) Trump v Hawaii

renouncing Korematsu

Chief Roberts

* Korematsu was wrong the day it was decided, has been overruled in the court of history and to be clear has no place in law under the constitution
* quotes Justice Jacksons (1944) dissent

It has nothing to do this case, banning certain groups from coming into the court bc Korematsu was about the relocation of US citizens explicitly based on their race → Trump’s policy is facially neutral

Hirabayashi v US (1943)

who, question, & decision

who: Hirabayshi was a japanese-american college student who was found guilty of violating curfew and relocation orders

question: did executive order 9066 discriminate against Japanese in violation of the 5th amendment (no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property w/out due process)

decision: 9/0 Chief Stone said that the order served an important national interest, necessary protective measure

Youngstown sheet & tube company v. sawyer (steel seizer case)

what is happening at the time? why did Truman seize the steel mills?

(1952) Korean War - not an official war is happening

Steel industry and united steelworkers union is reached an impasse in their negations → their is a looming strike

* Truman didn’t want to abandon his troops so he took control of the mills

truman seized the mills on 4/8,

when did the steel lawyers seek a temporary restraining order from a judge

district court part 1 decision

less than a hour after the decision, they showed up @ Judge Walter Bastian’s home

* the judge said that he would hear the case in the morning
* Judge Holtzoff would hear the case and decide the president could seize the mills because he was acting to prevent a national emergency and denied the temporary restraining order
* there was an adequate remedy in law if found illegal later

district court part 2 → Judge Pines

what unpopular legal position did the government adopt? what did this prompt Judge Pine to do?

they claimed the president was above the courts

• when an emergency situation arises that is important to the public welfare and something needs to be done it is the president’s duty to step in

  • the courts can not review the Pres decision to see if it is really an emergency

• the constitution limits Congress and the Judiciary but not the Executive

Pines

• concluded that the Pres did not have the power

  • published a 15 pg order

  • refused to grant the government’s request for a stay

Appeals Court → DC Circuit Court

why was the case argued so quickly? who won?

Pines refused to hold his orders, meaning they had very limited time to appeal

* all 9 judges on the circuit came
* 5/4 ruled in favor of the government, issuing them a stay so they could appeal up to the Supreme Court

Steel seizer holding in SCOTUS

* why Truman says the court can never be packed?

6-3

the Constitution did not give Truman an enumerated power to seize a private company

* the president may not exercise his emergency power to make them almost boundless

2/4 of his appointees voted against him

in the 15 yrs since FDR appointed new members to the court, the decisional trend was to

uphold the powers of the federal government

John Davis was the attorney for who at the SC

the steel companies

according to the influential concurrence in the steel seizure case, when is the court most likely to uphold the president’s actions

when congress has authorized the president’s action

how did truman react / how long did the case take start to finish

within minutes Truman ordered the steel mills be returned to their owners

* the case took only 2 months

why did Rehnquist say President Truman lost?

the media, press, and public reactions to this case as it ongoing

* the loud and attention seeking decisions from start to finish the case was largely in the public’s eye with many voices

Justice Jackson’s 3 part framework for considering the relationship between presidential powers, congressional powers, the court’s level of deference

1. when the pres act w/ congressional approval Pres is the strongest. The court will rarely question the president’s exercise of power

2. when the pres acts w/out congressional approval or disapproval this is a “twilight“ area where judicial reivew is heightened

3. when the Pres acts amid congressional disapproval, his power is lowest and the court will usually invalidate the actions

did Korematsu strengthen or weaken the SC

1944 ruling: strengthen the court bc they were aligned with the president and congress, all the powers were working together

did steel seizer strengthen or weaken the SC

strengthened bc minutes after the case decision was handed down, the president released the mills