Executive Power

There is no question that the power of the President expanded radically during the twentieth century. Most of this had to do with the increased importance of administrative agencies. Just where the limits to presidential power are, is somewhat murky as there is very little case law on the matter. As Justice Jackson, who writes as if he learned to speak by reading Shakespeare put it, one

"may be surprised at the poverty of really useful and unambiguous authority applicable to concrete problems of executive power as they actually present themselves. Just what our forefathers did envision, or would have envisioned had they foreseen modern conditions, must be divined from materials almost as enigmatic as the dreams Joseph was called upon to interpret for Pharaoh."

In any case, this is a drawing I did of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (a.k.a. The Steel Seizure Case), one of the few cases (pre-Nixon) that shed light on the subject. During the Korean War, Truman attempted to seize production of the US steel industry. The industry sued and won.

The entire opinion is available here.