Cato Institute
Policy Analysis
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Page 8
at 613­14.]
Justice Douglas, concurrence:
There can be no doubt that the emergency which caused the President to seize these steel
plants was one that bore heavily on the country. But the emergency did not create power; it
merely marked an occasion when power should be exercised. And the fact that it was necessary
that measures be taken to keep steel in production does not mean that the President, rather than
the Congress, had the constitutional authority to act. [Ibid. at 629.]
We therefore cannot decide this case by determining which branch of government can
deal most expeditiously with the present crisis. The answer must depend on the allocation of
powers under the Constitution. That in turn requires an analysis of the conditions giving rise to
the seizure and of the seizure itself. [Ibid. at 630.]
The method by which industrial peace is achieved is of vital importance not only to the
parties but to society as well. A determination that sanctions should be applied, that the hand of
the law should be placed upon the parties, and that the force of the courts should be directed
against them, is an exercise of legislative power. In some nations that power is entrusted to the
executive branch as a matter of course or in case of emergencies. We chose another course. We
chose to place the legislative power of the Federal Government in the Congress. The language of
the Constitution is not ambiguous or qualified. It places not some legislative power in the
Congress; Article I, Section 1 says "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a