Skip to Main Content

Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company v. Sawyer (1952) Answer Key

  1. Can the president alone order his Secretary of Commerce to take over and operate the nation’s steel mills in order to ensure continued steel production in wartime?
  2. The Court held that neither the Constitution nor an act of Congress granted the president this authority.
  3. The decision turned on the fact that the Constitution grants law-making power to Congress, and no lawmaking power to the president other than recommending or vetoing bills. The Constitution does say that the president shall “take care that the laws are faithfully executed.” The law‐making and law‐executing branches are separate—as is the judicial branch, which decided this case.
  4. To Congress; The president can only share ideas about what might be good laws, or veto bad ones. The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to make laws.