United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.

In June 1932, the Chaco War broke out. between Paraguay and Bolivia. Both belligerents were poor and relied on outside military assistance, which aroused interest among American armament manufacturers. However, in response to national antiwar sentiment, widespread revulsion at the conduct of the war, and diplomatic pressure from the United Kingdom and the League of Nations, the US government sought to terminate any developing arms trade.

To that end, on May 24, 1934, the US Congress approved a joint resolution providing that "if the President finds that the prohibition of the sale of arms and munitions of war in the United States to those countries engaged in conflict in the Chaco may contribute to the establishment of peace between those countries," he was authorized to proclaim an embargo on American arms shipments to the belligerents with violators subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both.[3][1] The same day, US President Franklin Roosevelt signed the joint resolution and issued a proclamation reaffirming its language and establishing an embargo. On November 14, 1935, that proclamation was revoked.[4]

Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. was indicted for violating both the joint resolution and the embargo by conspiring to sell aircraft machine guns to Bolivia.[1] It demurred to the indictment by arguing that the embargo and proclamation were void, as Congress had unconstitutionally delegated legislative power to the executive branch and thus given the President "unfettered discretion" to make a decision that should have been determined by Congress.

The defendant raised several issues for consideration by the Court:

1. Did the joint resolution passed by Congress grant unconstitutional authority and legislative power to the President in violation of the non-delegation doctrine?
2. Was the President required by considerations of due process to make findings of fact in support of the proclamation?
3. Did the revocation of the May 1934 proclamation eliminate the penalty for its violation?

In a 7–1 decision authored by Justice George Sutherland, the Court ruled that the US government, through the President, is categorically allowed great foreign affairs powers that are independent of the US Constitution:

The ["powers of the federal government in respect of foreign or external affairs and those in respect of domestic or internal affairs"] are different, both in respect of their origin and their nature. The broad statement that the federal government can exercise no powers except those specifically enumerated in the Constitution, and such implied powers as are necessary and proper to carry into effect the enumerated powers, is categorically true only in respect of our internal affairs.

The Constitution does not explicitly state that all ability to conduct foreign policy is vested in the President, but the Court concluded that such power is given implicitly since the executive of a sovereign nation is by its very nature empowered to conduct foreign affairs. The Court found "sufficient warrant for the broad discretion vested in the President to determine whether the enforcement of the statute will have a beneficial effect upon the reestablishment of peace in the affected countries."[1] In other words, the President is better suited to determine the actions and the policies that best serve the nation's interests abroad:

It is important to bear in mind that we are here dealing not alone with an authority vested in the President by an exertion of legislative power, but with such an authority plus the very delicate, plenary and exclusive power of the President as the sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations–a power which does not require as a basis for its exercise an act of Congress, but which, of course, like every other governmental power, must be exercised in subordination to the applicable provisions of the Constitution.

By contrast, Congress lacks such an inherent role under the Constitution, which accords broad discretion to the President alone because of the vastness and the complexity of international relations.

The ruling not only upheld export limitations on the grounds of national security but also established the broader principle of executive supremacy in national security and in foreign affairs. That was one of the reasons advanced in the 1950s for the nearly-successful attempt to add the Bricker Amendment to the US Constitution.

The Court has not recognized the full scope of executive power suggested by Justice Sutherland's sweeping language. The Court sometimes thus presented contradictory rulings about foreign policy powers between the President and the Congress.

Congressional authorization may be necessary to legitimize many executive acts. In Reagan v. Wald (1984), for example, the Court cited Curtiss-Wright in upholding the constitutionality of the president's regulations restricting travel to Cuba and did so expressly on the ground that they had been authorized by Congress. On the other hand, in Federal Energy Administration v. Algonquin SNG, Inc. (1976), the Court validated presidential restrictions on oil imports and based its decision on based the very broad congressional language that delegated apparently-unlimited regulatory authority to the executive branch.

Despite its controversy, Curtiss-Wright is among the Supreme Court's most influential decisions. Most cases involving conflicts between the executive and legislative branches involve political questions that the courts refuse to adjudicate. Therefore, the sweeping language of Curtiss-Wright is regularly cited to support the executive branch's claims of power to act without congressional authorization in foreign affairs, especially if there is no judicial intervention to interpret the text's meaning.

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 299
• Little v. Barreme

• Lofgren, Charles A. "United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation: An Historical Reassessment." Yale Law Journal 83 (1973): 1+. online
• Divine, Robert A. (1987). "The Case of the Smuggled Bombers". In Garraty, John A. (ed.). Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-055062-7.

• Works related to United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation at Wikisource
• Text of United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U.S. 304 (1936) is available from:  Cornell  CourtListener  Findlaw  Google Scholar  Justia  Library of Congress  Oyez (oral argument audio)