History Commons^™

The Supreme Court Vs. The President: How The Court Decides The Constitutionality Of Challenged Presidential Actions, Laura Wittern-Keller

Campus Conversations in Standish

In this presentation, Dr. Laura Wittern-Keller discusses the growth of presidential power through unilateral action—executive orders, proclamations, national security directives, and signing statements—and how the Supreme Court has determined the constitutionality of those actions. The precedent usually used by the Supreme Court stems from a 1952 case that found President Harry Truman’s executive order authorizing the seizure of some American steel mills to be an unconstitutional extension of presidential unilateral action. The case, Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer, included a concurrence by Associate Justice Robert Jackson that created a three-part test of presidential orders. That test, modified in …