Source: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_v._Sullivan_(332_U.S._689)/Opinion_of_the_Court
Timestamp: 2015-04-01 08:11:28
Document Index: 463070705

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 301', '§ 502', '§ 306', '§ 405', '§ 405', '§ 301']

United States v. Sullivan (332 U.S. 689)/Opinion of the Court - Wikisource, the free online library
United States v. Sullivan (332 U.S. 689)/Opinion of the Court
< United States v. Sullivan (332 U.S. 689)
United States v. Sullivan (332 U.S. 689) by Hugo Black
901996United States v. Sullivan (332 U.S. 689) — Opinion of the CourtHugo Black
UNITED STATES v. SULLIVAN (332 U.S. 689)
Argued: Dec. 9, 1947. --- Decided: Jan 19, 1948
Respondent, a retail druggist in Columbus, Georgia, was charged in two counts of an information with a violation of § 301(k) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. That section prohibits 'the doing of any * * * act with respect to, a * * * drug * * * if such act is done while such article is held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce and results in such article being misbranded.' [1] Section 502(f) of the Act declares a drug 'to be misbranded * * * unless its labeling bears (1) adequate directions for use; and (2) such adequate warnings against use * * * dangerous to health, or against unsafe dosage * * * as are necessary for the protection of users.' The information charged specifically that the respondent had performed certain acts which resulted in sulfathiazole being 'misbranded' while 'held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce.'
The facts alleged were these: A laboratory had shipped in interstate commerce from Chicago, Illinois, to a consignee at Atlanta, Georgia, a number of bottles, each containing 1,000 sulfathiazole tablets. These bottles had labels affixed to them, which, as required by § 502(f)(1) and (2) of the Act, set out adequate directions for the use of the tablets and adequate warnings to protect ultimt e consumers from dangers incident to this use. [2] Respondent bought one of these properly labeled bottles of sulfathiazole tablets from the Atlanta consignee, transferred it to his Columbus, Georgia, drugstore, and there held the tablets for resale. On two separate occasions twelve tablets were removed from the properly labeled and branded bottle, placed in pill boxes, and sold to customers. These boxes were labeled 'sulfathiazole.' They did not contain the statutorily required adequate directions for use or warnings of danger.
The scope of the offense which Congress defined is not to be judicially narrowed as applied to drugs by envisioning extreme possible applications of its different misbranding provisions which relate to food, cosmetics, and the like. There will be opportunity enough to consider such contingencies should they ever arise. It may now be noted, however, that the Administrator of the Act is given rather broad discretion-broad enough undoubtedly to enable him to perform his duties fairly without wasting his efforts on what may be no more than technical infractions of law. As an illustration of the Administrator's discretion, § 306 permits him to excuse minor violations with a warning if he believes that the public interest will thereby be adequately served. And the Administrator is given extensive authority under §§ 405, 503 and 603 to issue regulations exempting from the labeling requirements many articles that otherwise would fall within this portion of the Act. The provisions of § 405 with regard to food apparently are broad enough to permit the relaxation of some of the labeling requirements which might otherwise impose a burden on retailers out of proportion to their value to the consumer.
Furthermore, it would require great ingenuity to discover ambiguity in the additional requirement of § 301(k) that the misbranding occur 'while such article is held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce.' The words accurately describe respondent's conduct here. He held the drugs for sale after they had been shipped in interstate commerce from Chicago to Atlanta. It is true that respondent bought them over six months after the interstate shipment had been completed by their delivery to another consignee. But the language used by Congress br