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	Schechter Poultry v. US (1935)

Schechter Poultry v. US, also known as the “sick chicken case,” challenged regulations of the poultry industry coming from the authority of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. Among the eighteen charges against Schechter Poultry were "the sale to a butcher of an unfit chicken" and the sale of two uninspected chickens.


	Did Congress unconstitutionally delegate legislative power to the President through the National Industrial Recovery Act?



		US Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes


		The Court held that the NIRA was "without precedent" and violated the Constitution. The law did not establish rules or standards to evaluate industrial activity. In other words, it did not make codes, but simply empowered the President to do so. A unanimous Court found this to be an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority.



		The ruling was one of a series which overturned elements of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation between January 1935 and January 1936. The Supreme Court's opposition to an active government role caused Roosevelt to attempt to pack the Court with judges that were in favor of the New Deal. For a full summary of this case, go to: http://www.oyez.org/cases/1901-1939/1934/1934_854/