on 28 march 1931 brüning, employing hindenburg's emergency powers under article 48, issued an emergency decree requiring all political meetings to be registered and requiring all posters and political handouts to be subject to censorship. the decree also delegated wide powers to brüning to curb "political excesses." of course, the sa objected to the decree. nevertheless, hitler—whose party had recently achieved an astonishing electoral victory in the september 1930 reichstag elections and whose "policy of legality" appeared to be paying dividends in the economic misery of the depression—ordered strict compliance. stennes refused.