CRS Annotated Constitution |Article II -- Table of
Contents||Prev | Next| Power Denied by Congress.—Justice Black’s
opinion of the Court notes that Congress had refused to give the
President seizure authority and had authorized other actions,
which had not been taken.711 This statement led him only to
conclude that since the power claimed did not stem from
Congress, it had to be found in the Constitution. But four of
the concurring Justices made considerably more of the fact that
Congress had considered seizure and had refused to authorize it.
Justice Frankfurter stated: “We must . . . put to one side
consideration of what powers the President would have had if
there had been no legislation whatever bearing on the authority
asserted by the seizure, or if the seizure had been only for a
short, explicitly temporary period, to be terminated
automatically unless Congressional approval were given.”712 He
then reviewed the proceedings of Congress that attended the
enactment of the Taft–Hartley Act and concluded tha