Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer

In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 72 S. Ct. 863, 96 L. Ed. 1153 (1952), the Supreme Court reviewed the constitutionality of an EXECUTIVE ORDER directing the secretary of commerce to seize possession of the nation's steel mills during a labor dispute and keep them operating while hostilities continued in the KOREAN WAR. Also known as the Steel Seizure Case, Youngstown Sheet & Tube stands for the proposition that the EXECUTIVE BRANCH has no constitutional authority to seize possession of private property, even if it is for public use during times of national emergency because such authority is vested in the lawmaking powers of Congress.

The case arose from a labor dispute...