Evening star., 1952-04-30
A Government of Laws

The really significant effect of Judge Pines
decision in the steel case is to re-establish a
rule of law in this country.
Ours is a Government of limited, enumer-
ated and delegated powers" The power of the
President, as well as that of Congress and the
courts Is limited by the Constitution. An
emergency, real or fancied does not endow the
President with inherent" powers to do what
ever he thinks ought to be done. For the Pres
1dent has no such powers, and any claim to the
contrary is an utter fallacy" Whatever the
law may be as to the President in his personal
capacity, the Federal courts can and will restrain
subordinates of the President when their con-
duct is unauthorized by statute, exceeds the
scope of constitutional authority or is pursuant
to unconstitutional enactment"
These are the broad constitutional principles
upon which Judge Pine has taken his stand.
And his stand is one which, if upheld on appeal,
will return this country to constitutional, as
distinguished from personal, government. In
effect the court has said to the President: There
Is no place in our system for the doctrine that
expediency must govern. There is ample oppor-
tunity under the Constitution to cope with
steel strike by lawful rather than expedient
means. And the executive, as well as the other
branches of government, should function within
the Constitution ana the laws.
Counsel for the President, in arguing the
case tried to justify the steel seizure by pointing
to similar acts by other Presidents. Judge Pine
made short work of that theory. Apparently"
said the court, according to his theory, several
repetitive, unchallenged, illegal acts sanctify
those committed thereafter. I disagree"
In conclusion, the court ruled that there is
an "utter and complete" lack of authoritative
support for the position taken by the lawyers
for the President There is no merit in the
power to meet all emergencies is unlimited, and
that the courts are without power to review his
emergency findings. That theory, Judge Pine
said, spells form of government alien to our
constitutional government of limited powers"
Unless the higher courts take different
view this disposeS of the constitutional questions
The problem of steel strike, and how to deal
with it, remains.
This, however, is not a proper concern of
the court Judge Pine was told during the
argument that he should not outlaw the seizure
because strike might result In effect, he was
urged to subordinate Justice to expediency, and
of course, he refused to do it. AS he pointed
out all of the evils Of steel strike would be
less injurious to the country than would be the
stultifcation of the courts
The next move is up to the President. Unless
there is settlement between the parties, he
should use the lawful instrument at his COM
mand-the Taft-Hartley Act. If that proves
ineffective in the long run, as may be the case
he should return the whole problem to Congress-
That is where the basic responsibility rests and
that is where the ultimate decision should be
made. If the end result of steel strike, follow
ing Judge Pines ruling, should be to compel
Congress to enact legislation that will effectively
safeguard the public interest in situation of
this kind the price in terms of economic loss
will not have been too high.