Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. V. Sawyer - Majority Opinion

Majority Opinion

Justice Black wrote for the majority, although the number of divergent concurring opinions made it clear that he did not necessarily speak for it. Black took, as he often did, an absolutist view, holding that the President had no power to act except in those cases expressly or implicitly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress. The Korean War effort increased the demand for steel. Disputes arose between steel industry management and labor that culminated in an announcement of a strike by the union. President Truman authorized Secretary of Commerce Sawyer to take possession of the steel industry and keep the mills operating. The Attorney General also took the position that "when the sovereign people adopted the Constitution, it limited the powers of the Congress and limited the powers of the judiciary, but it did not limit the powers of the Executive." Goldberg, speaking for the Steelworkers, addressed whether the Taft-Hartley Act would have allowed for injunctive relief in these circumstances. The attorneys for the railroad brotherhoods addressed the President's inherent powers. The Government's position is that the order was made on findings of the President that his action was necessary to avert a national catastrophe, which would inevitably result from a stoppage of steel production.