Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/346/441/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:24:58+00:00

Document:
The Act of January 2, 1951, forbids the interstate shipment of gambling devices, requires every dealer in gambling devices to register his places of business "in such district" with the Attorney General and report to him all sales and deliveries of gambling devices "in the district," and provides for the seizure and forfeiture of gambling devices possessed in violation of the Act. Certain dealers in gambling devices were indicted for violations of the registration and reporting requirements of the Act, without any allegation that the devices they sold had moved or would move in interstate commerce, and a libel to forfeit certain gambling devices was filed, without alleging that they ever were transported in or in any way affected interstate commerce.
Held: Judgments dismissing the indictments and the libel are affirmed. Pp. 346 U. S. 442-454.
For opinion of MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, in which MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER and MR. JUSTICE MINTON join, see p. 346 U. S. 442.
For opinion of MR. JUSTICE BLACK, with whom MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS joins, see p. 346 U. S. 452.
For dissenting opinion of MR. JUSTICE CLARK, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, MR. JUSTICE REED, and MR. JUSTICE BURTON concur, see p. 346 U. S. 454.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON announced the judgment of the Court and an opinion in which MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER and MR. JUSTICE MINTON join.
These cases present unsuccessful attempts, by two different procedures, to enforce the view of the Department of Justice as to construction of the Act of January 2, 1951, [Footnote 1] which prohibits shipment of gambling machines in interstate commerce but includes incidental registration and reporting provisions. Two indictments charge Denmark and Braun severally with engaging in the business of dealing in gambling devices without registering with the Attorney General and reporting sales and deliveries. Both indictments were dismissed. The other proceeding is a libel to forfeit five gambling machines seized by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents from a country club in Tennessee. It also was dismissed.
The three cases, here on Government appeals, are similar in features which led to their dismissal and which raise constitutional issues. The indictments do not allege that the accused dealers, since the effective date of the Act or, for that matter, at any other time, have bought, sold or moved gambling devices in interstate commerce, or that the devices involved in their unreported sales have, since the effective date of the Act or at any other time, moved in interstate commerce, or ever would do so. The libel does not show that the country club's machines were at any time transported in, or in any way affect, interstate commerce.
The information requirements are not expressly limited to persons engaged or transactions occurring in interstate commerce, or conditioned on any connection therewith. Neither does the Act, by any specific terms, direct its application to transactions such as we have here.
unless shown to have some relation to interstate commerce; second, construed otherwise, the Act exceeds the power delegated to Congress under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution; third, the statute is unconstitutionally vague.
that the Government's pleadings raise, and no doubt were intended to raise, a far-reaching question as to the extent of congressional power over matters internal to the individual states.
is impractical or impossible. [Footnote 9] Of course, decisions upholding legislation requiring information in aid of the taxing power [Footnote 10] afford no support here, because the taxing power penetrates and permeates every activity, intrastate or interstate, within the Nation. While general statements, out of these different contexts, might bear upon the subject one way or another, it is apparent that the precise question tendered to us now is not settled by any prior decision.
difficult decisions. The predominant consideration is that we should be sure Congress has intentionally put its power in issue by the legislation in question before we undertake a pronouncement which may have far-reaching consequences upon the powers of the Congress or the powers reserved to the several states. To withhold passing upon an issue of power until we are certain it is knowingly precipitated will do not great injury, for Congress, once we have recognized the question, can make its purpose explicit, and thereby necessitate or avoid decision of the question. Judicial abstention is especially wholesome where we are considering a penal statute. Our policy in constitutional cases is reinforced by the long tradition and sound reasons which admonish against enlargement of criminal statutes by interpretation.
This Court does and should accord a strong presumption of constitutionality to Acts of Congress. This is not a mere polite gesture. It is a deference due to deliberate judgment by constitutional majorities of the two Houses of Congress that an Act is within their delegated power or is necessary and proper to execution of that power. The rational and practical force of the presumption is at its maximum only when it appears that the precise point in issue here has been considered by Congress and has been explicitly and deliberately resolved. [Footnote 11] But the presumption can have little realism when responsible congressional committees and leaders, in managing a bill, have told Congress that the bill will not reach that which the Act is invoked in this Court to cover.
unitary system of government, no other construction would be appropriate. But we must assume that the implications and limitations of our federal system constitute a major premise of all congressional legislation, though not repeatedly recited therein. Against the background of our tradition and system of government, we cannot say that the lower courts, which have held as a matter of statutory construction that this Act does not reach purely intrastate matters, have not made a permissible interpretation. [Footnote 12] We find in the text no unmistakable intention of Congress to raise the constitutional questions implicit in the Government's effort to apply the Act in its most extreme impact upon affairs considered normally reserved to the states.
". . . it keeps the Federal Government out of State and local police powers; no Federal official is going to become an enforcement officer in any State or locality. [Footnote 14]"
"On the other hand, the committee desires to emphasize that Federal law enforcement in the field of gambling cannot and should not be considered a substitute for State and local law enforcement in this field. [Footnote 15]"
But here it was the Federal Bureau of Investigation which entered a country club and seized slot machines not shown ever to have had any connection with interstate commerce in any manner whatever. If this is not substituting federal for state enforcement, it is difficult to know how it could be accomplished. A more local and detailed act of enforcement is hardly conceivable. These cases, if sustained, would substantially take unto the Federal Government the entire pursuit of the gambling device.
"Actually, enforcement against those people who gamble or use these machines wrongfully in the States is left with the States, and with the local officials, and there is absolutely no intention on the part of the Federal Government, express or otherwise, in this bill or anything that accompanies it, to get us into a prohibition era. [Footnote 16]"
impossible to reconcile statements of this kind, on which the Congress may have placed reliance, with the Government's present interpretation of the Act.
As we have indicated, the present indictments and libel are so framed as to apply to extreme form the most expansive interpretation of this Act. All that we would decide at present is a question of statutory construction. We think the Act does not have the explicitness necessary to sustain the pleadings which the Government has drafted in these cases. On this ground alone, we would affirm the judgments below.
* Together with No. 40, United States v. Denmark, and No. 41, United States v. Braun, on appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.
64 Stat. 1134, 15 U.S.C.(Supp. V) §§ 1171-1177.
"It shall be unlawful knowingly to transport any gambling device to any place in a State, the District of Columbia, or a possession of the United States from any place outside of such State, the District of Columbia, of possession: Provided, That this section shall not apply to transportation of any gambling device to a place in any State which has enacted a law providing for the exemption of such State from the provisions of this section, or to a place in any subdivision of a State if the State in which such subdivision is located has enacted a law providing for the exemption of such subdivision from the provisions of this section. . . ."
64 Stat. 1134, 15 U.S.C.(Supp. V) § 1172.
"Upon first engaging in business, and thereafter on or before the 1st day of July of each year, every manufacturer of and dealer in gambling devices shall register with the Attorney General his name or trade name, the address of his principal place of business, and the addresses of his places of business in such district. On or before the last day of each month, every manufacturer of and dealer in gambling devices shall file with the Attorney General an inventory and record of all sales and deliveries of gambling devices as of the close of the preceding calendar month for the place or places of business in the district. The monthly record of sales and deliveries of such gambling devices shall show the mark and number identifying each article, together with the name and address of the buyer or consignee thereof and the name and address of the carrier. Duplicate bills or invoices, if complete in the foregoing respects, may be used in filing the record of sales and deliveries. For the purposes of this Act, every manufacturer or dealer shall mark and number each gambling device so that it is individually identifiable. In cases of sale, delivery, or shipment of gambling devices in unassembled form, the manufacturer or dealer shall separately mark and number the components of each gambling device with a common mark and number as if it were an assembled gambling device. It shall be unlawful for any manufacturer or dealer to sell, deliver, or ship any gambling device which is not marked and numbered for identification as herein provided, and it shall be unlawful for any manufacturer or dealer to manufacture, recondition, repair, sell, deliver, or ship any gambling device without having registered as required by this section, or without filing monthly the required inventories and records of sales and deliveries."
64 Stat. 1135, 15 U.S.C.(Supp. V) § 1173.
"Whoever violates any of the provisions of sections 2, 3, 4, or 5 of this Act shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."
64 Stat. 1135, 15 U.S.C.(Supp. V) § 1176.
"Any gambling device transported, delivered, shipped, manufactured, reconditioned, repaired, sold, disposed of, received, possessed, or used in violation of the provisions of this Act shall be seized and forfeited to the United States. All provisions of law relating to the seizure, summary and judicial forfeiture, and condemnation of vessels, vehicles, merchandise, and baggage for violation of the customs laws; the disposition of such vessels, vehicles, merchandise, and baggage or the proceeds from the sale thereof; the remission or mitigation of such forfeiture, and the compromise of claims and the award of compensation to informers in respect of such forfeitures shall apply to seizures and forfeitures incurred, or alleged to have been incurred, under the provisions of this Act, insofar as applicable and not inconsistent with the provisions hereof: Provided, That such duties as are imposed upon the collector of customs or any other person with respect to the seizure and forfeiture of vessels, vehicles, merchandise, and baggage under the customs laws shall be performed with respect to seizures and forfeitures of gambling devices under this Act by such officers, agents, or other persons as may be authorized or designated for that purpose by the Attorney General."
64 Stat. 1135, 15 U.S.C.(Supp. V) § 1177.
". . . every manufacturer of and dealer in gambling devices shall register with the collector of internal revenue for each district in which such business is to be carried on his name [etc.] . . ."
(Emphasis added.) See 96 Cong.Rec. 13649; Hearings before House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce on S. 3357, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. 2. However, the Treasury Department wrote the House committee that, since the bill did not concern the collection of revenue, the Justice Department should handle the registration of gambling devices. See H.R.Rep. No. 2769, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. 14; Hearings on S. 3357, supra, at 8-9. The House committee therefore deleted from the bill the language italicized above and substituted the words "Attorney General." See H.R.Rep. No. 2769, supra, at 8-9; 96 Cong.Rec. 13650, 14735, 15106, 15108, 16701. The deletion left without meaning the phrase "in such district," which appeared later in the section and which had previously referred back to the district in which the business was to be carried on.
Under the liquor law enforcement statutes, the offense was only complete when the unlabeled liquor was shipped in interstate commerce. E.g., 35 Stat. 1137, as amended, 49 Stat. 1930, 18 U.S.C. § 390. See Blumenthal v. United States, 88 F.2d 522, 524-525; Arnold v. United States, 115 F.2d 523, 524. The marking and labeling section of the Ashurst-Sumners Act, 49 Stat. 494, 18 U.S.C. § 396c specifically provided that prison-made goods must be marked "when shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce." See Kentucky Whip & Collar Co. v. Illinois Central R. Co., 299 U. S. 334, 299 U. S. 344, 299 U. S. 352-353, where a suit for mandatory injunction under the Act alleged that the goods had been delivered in interstate commerce. A similar provision appeared in the subsequent statute. 62 Stat. 786, 18 U.S.C. (Supp. III) § 1762(a). The Lacey Act of 1900, 31 Stat. 188, required packages containing dead animals to be plainly marked "when shipped by interstate commerce." See Rupert v. United States, 181 F. 87, 88, 91, where an indictment under the Act charged interstate shipments. The statute preventing passage of lottery tickets in interstate commerce, 62 Stat. 762, 18 U.S.C.(Supp. III), § 1301, contains no labeling, marking, or information requirements. Neither do the stolen property statutes. 62 Stat. 805, 806, 807, 63 Stat. 96, 18 U.S.C.(Supp. III) §§ 2311-2317.
Interstate Commerce Act, 36 Stat. 550, as amended, 41 Stat. 484, 49 U.S.C. § 13(4); Houston, E. & W.T. R. Co. v. United States, 234 U. S. 342, 234 U. S. 357-359; Florida v. United States, 282 U. S. 194; North Carolina v. United States, 325 U. S. 507, 325 U. S. 511; King v. United States, 344 U. S. 254, 344 U. S. 267-276. National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 450, 452, 453, 454, 455, 29 U.S.C. §§ 152(6), (7), 155, 160(a), (e), (f), as amended, 61 Stat. 138, 140, 146, 147-148, 29 U.S.C.(Supp. III) §§ 152(6), (7), 155, 160(a), (e), (f); Labor Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U. S. 1, 301 U. S. 31, 301 U. S. 47; Myers v. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., 303 U. S. 41, 303 U. S. 49-50; Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. v. Schauffler, 303 U. S. 54, 303 U. S. 57-58; Santa Cruz Fruit Packing Co. v. Labor Board, 303 U. S. 453, 303 U. S. 466-468; Consolidated Edison Co. v. Labor Board, 305 U. S. 197, 305 U. S. 223-224; Labor Board v. Denver Building & Construction Trades Council, 314 U.S. 675, 683-684.
Hours of Service Acts (Railroads), 34 Stat. 1415, 45 U.S.C. §§ 61-64; Baltimore & O. R. Co. v. ICC, 221 U. S. 612; Interstate Commerce Act, 34 Stat. 584, 49 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.; Interstate Commerce Comm'n v. Goodrich Transit Co., 224 U. S. 194; Grain Futures Act, 42 Stat. 998, as amended; Commodity Exchange Act, 49 Stat. 1491, 7 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.; Board of Trade of Chicago v. Olsen, 262 U. S. 1; Ashurst-Sumners Act (Convict-Made Goods), 49 Stat. 494, 18 U.S.C. §§ 396b, 396c; Kentucky Whip & Collar Co. v. Illinois Central R. Co., 299 U. S. 334; Tobacco Inspection Act, 49 Stat. 731, 7 U.S.C.(Supp. III) §§ 511a-511q; Currin v. Wallace, 306 U. S. 1; Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, 52 Stat. 31, as amended, 7 U.S.C. § 1281 et seq.; Mulford v. Smith, 307 U. S. 38; as amended, 55 Stat. 203, 7 U.S.C.(Supp. I) § 1340; Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U. S. 111; Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. United States v. Darby, 312 U. S. 100; Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling, 327 U. S. 186; Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, 50 Stat. 246, 7 U.S.C. § 608c; United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., 315 U. S. 110; Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 52 Stat. 1040, 21 U.S.C. § 301 et seq.; United States v. Walsh, 331 U. S. 432; United States v. Sullivan, 332 U. S. 689.
United States v. Doremus, 249 U. S. 86; Nigro v. United States, 276 U. S. 332; Sonzinsky v. United States, 300 U. S. 506; United States v. Kahriger, 345 U. S. 22.
Cf. United States v. Bekins, 304 U. S. 27, with Ashton v. Cameron County Water Improvement District, 298 U. S. 513.
United States v. Denmark, 119 F.Supp. 647; United States v. Braun, 119 F.Supp. 646; United States v. Five Gambling Devices; United States v. 15 Mills Blue Bell Gambling Machines, 119 F.Supp. 74; United States v. 178 Gambling Devices, 107 F.Supp. 394.
The Government cites passages from the House Committee Report to the effect that slot machines and similar gambling devices are resulting in substantial revenues to Nationwide crime syndicates. H.R.Rep. No.2769, supra, at 4-6. The Government also refers to statements by a Congressman and the president of a company which manufactures gambling devices to the effect that these syndicates operate in every state in the Union and reap profits in the billions of dollars. Hearings on S. 3357, supra, at 10-12, 23, 28, 29, 182, 185, 191-192; 96 Cong.Rec. 13638.
96 Cong.Rec. 15107. For similar statements by Senator Johnson, see 96 Cong.Rec. 15103, 15105.
H.R.Rep. No. 2769, supra, at 5.
Ibid. See also statements by Senator Ferguson, 96 Cong.Rec. 15104, and Representatives Rogers, 96 Cong.Rec. 13643-13644, 16853; Bryson, 96 Cong.Rec. 13649; Rees, 96 Cong.Rec. 13654, and Dolliver, 96 Cong.Rec. 13638.
"a statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law."
infuse life into an Act of Congress unenforceable for vagueness. The vital omission in this criminal statute can be supplied by the legislative branch of government, not by the Attorney General. I would affirm these judgments.
* Holding that the Act requires reports of interstate sales would raise a serious constitutional question. The Act makes it a crime to transport gambling devices in interstate commerce. Consequently, requiring monthly reports of sales and deliveries made by an interstate dealer would require him to make monthly reports of his own crimes. The Fifth Amendment provides that no person shall be compelled "to be a witness against himself."
MR. JUSTICE CLARK, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, MR. JUSTICE REED and MR. JUSTICE BURTON concur, dissenting.
"this Court will construe a statute in a manner that requires decision of serious constitutional questions only if the statutory language leaves no reasonable alternative."
"A restrictive interpretation should not be given a statute merely because . . . giving effect to the express language employed by Congress might require a court to face a constitutional question."
332 U.S. at 332 U. S. 693.
If, by legislative history or otherwise, it could persuasively be shown that Congress intended that the word "every" be given other than its plain meaning, we should likely consider such evidence in interpreting the statute.
"Resolved, That this conference endorse the idea of Federal legislation to prohibit the shipment of gambling devices into or out of any State where the possession or use of such devices is illegal. Further, requiring Federal registration of all such machines sold within States. [Footnote 2/2]"
The bill was drafted shortly thereafter by the Justice Department, with § 3 requiring registration and filing by "every" dealer and manufacturer. That part of the section was never changed, and apparently was never discussed by Congress.
For these reasons, I am unable to agree with the solution of these cases offered by MR. JUSTICE JACKSON.
I am also unable to agree that the statute is unconstitutionally vague.
"every manufacturer of and dealer in gambling devices shall register with the Attorney General his name or trade name, the address of his principal place of business, and the addresses of his places of business in such district,"
"an inventory and record of all sales and deliveries of gambling devices as of the close of the preceding calendar month for the place or places of business in the district."
I do not mean to suggest that these provisions are models of clarity; when words are left in a statute by oversight, exemplary draftsmanship hardly results. But our function is not to discipline Congress for its failure to dot the i's and cross the t's. It is rather to make certain that the conduct required has been made sufficiently clear that to impose sanctions for ignoring the statute's requirements will not violate due process of law.
The appellees ask us to hold that this is a case "where patently ambiguous language is so unclear and equivocal as to render its enforcement a denial of due process;" they argue that conviction here violates the rule that "no one may be required, at peril of life, liberty, or property, to speculate as to the meaning of penal statutes," and that all are entitled to be informed as to what the statute commands or forbids, citing Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U. S. 451, 306 U. S. 453 (1939). In my view, speculation is not here required, unless one seeks to avoid compliance with the law; I think that all who would comply with the law are sufficiently informed of what is required of them to assure that any bona fide attempt at compliance would be successful.
General through a local United States Attorney would amount to compliance. At any rate, the Act did not leave room for doubt that the Attorney General was to receive the specified information. Subsequent to passage of the Act, the Attorney General, acting pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 22, provided by regulation that the required information should be sent to him in Washington, with an exception made in the case of dealers and manufacturers in Illinois (apparently the center of the affected industry), who were directed to register and file with the United States District Attorney there. If there was ever bona fide doubt as to where to file the information, the Attorney General had now made his whereabouts for purposes of the Act crystal clear.
words in this statute does not transform into a trap for the unwary the express requirements of registration and filing with the Attorney General specified information about one's person, business, and places of business.
The ultimate question presented by these cases is whether Congress has exceeded its constitutional power. I think it has not.
transportation of the machines than would be needed to control an activity in which dealers and manufacturers could be presumed to the law-abiding citizens who kept accurate books and accounts. The net effect of these considerations is to clearly establish that the registration and filing requirements of the Act amount to reasonably necessary, appropriate, and probably essential means for enforcing the ban on interstate transportation of gambling devices.
The question presented, then, is whether Congress is empowered by the Constitution to require information, reasonably necessary and appropriate to make effective and enforceable a concededly valid ban on interstate transportation of gambling devices, from persons not shown to be themselves engaged in interstate activity. I think that an affirmative answer is not inevitably dictated by prior decisions of the Court, but, more important, no decision precludes an affirmative answer. The question has not been previously decided, because the legislative scheme utilized here apparently has not been heretofore attempted. But its novelty should not suggests its unconstitutionality.
establish that activities or goods intrastate in nature are not immune from congressional control where they are sufficiently related to interstate activities or goods controlled by Congress.
"extends to those activities intrastate which so affect interstate commerce or the exercise of the power of Congress over it as to make regulation of them appropriate means to the attainment of a legitimate end, the exercise of the granted power of Congress to regulate interstate Commerce. [Footnote 2/6]"
nature of the object whose interstate shipment is being controlled.
The Court in that case added that much leeway is to be given Congress in determining what means are appropriate. 4 Wheat. at 17 U. S. 423.
If Congress, by § 3, had sought to regulate local activity, its power would no doubt be less clear. But here there is no attempt to regulate; all that is required is information in aid of enforcement of the conceded power to ban interstate transportation. The distinction is substantial.
The quoted and cited statements of Senator Johnson occurred in the course of debate on the bill as a whole and particularly in reference to its ban on certain interstate shipments. Apparently the only mention of the scope of § 3 was the statement from the conference report that the bill "requires manufacturers and dealers in gambling devices to register annually with the Attorney General of the United States." 96 Cong.Rec. 15106. This statement occasioned no discussion. The Attorney General's statement that no "prohibition era" was contemplated and the committee report to the same effect apparently were designed to assure some Senators that the thrust of the Act was not at the gamblers, the users of the machines, who were to be left to state law enforcement measures and officials. However this may be, I suggest that the question of who was to enforce the various provisions of the Act -- state officers or federal officers -- is scarcely relevant to show congressional intent as to the scope of § 3.
". . . the proper construction of this Act, we feel, is this: that all shipments of gambling devices in interstate commerce are prohibited except to those States where the same are legal. Manufactures or dealers shipping into those States where it is legal should be required to register with the Attorney General and file an inventory."
Brief of Appeals in Nos. 40 and 41, p. 8. (Emphasis supplied.) This construction would seem to circumvent the possible self-incrimination aspects suggested by MR. JUSTICE BLACK; it would also unduly strain statutory construction.
H.R.Rep. No.2769, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 4-6; S.Rep. No.307, 82d Cong., 1st Sess., p. 55, published after passage of the Act, made this relationship even more clear.
"Congress having by the present Act adopted the policy of excluding from interstate commerce all goods produced for the commerce which do not conform to the specified labor standards, it may choose the means reasonably adapted to the attainment of the permitted end, even though they involve control of intrastate activities. Such legislation has often been sustained with respect to powers, other than the commerce power granted to the national government, when the means chosen, although not themselves within the granted power, were nevertheless deemed appropriate aids to the accomplishment of some purpose within an admitted power of the national government. See Jacob Ruppert, Inc. v. Caffey, 251 U. S. 264; James Everard's Breweries v. Day, 265 U. S. 545, 265 U. S. 560; Westfall v. United States, 274 U. S. 256, 274 U. S. 259. . . . Similarly, Congress may require inspection and preventive treatment of all cattle in a disease infected area in order to prevent shipment in interstate commerce of some of the cattle without the treatment. Thornton v. United States, 271 U. S. 414. . . . And we have recently held that Congress, in the exercise of its power to require inspection and grading of tobacco shipped in interstate commerce, may compel such inspection and grading of all tobacco sold at local auction rooms from which a substantial part, but not all, of the tobacco sold is shipped in interstate commerce. Currin v. Wallace, [306 U.S. 1], 306 U. S. 11, and see, to the like effect, United States v. Rock Royal Co-op., [307 U.S. 533], 307 U. S. 568."
Compare Linder v. United States, 268 U. S. 5, 268 U. S. 17 (1925).
Compare Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling, 327 U. S. 186 (1946), holding that Congress can empower the Administrator of the Fair Labor Standards Act to issue subpoenas duces tecum to obtain information from a corporation to determine whether it is covered by the Act or has violated it.
Once it is established that Congress can require registration and filing, I view the forfeiture sanction imposed in No. 14 as an alternative method of enforcement, which presents no substantial additional issue. Compare United States v. Stowell, 133 U. S. 1 (1890).

References: v. 
 v. 
 § 1172
 § 1173
 § 1176
 § 1177
 § 390
 v. 
 v. 
 § 396
 v. 
 § 1762
 v. 
 § 1301
 § 13
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 1
 v. 
 § 1
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 1281
 v. 
 § 1340
 v. 
 § 201
 v. 
 v. 
 § 608
 v. 
 § 301
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 3
 v. 
 § 22
 § 3
 § 3
 § 3
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.