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- Federal Powers and Separation of Powers
McGrain v. Daugherty 1927
Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
Pages | 880-884 |
Page 880
Appellant: John J. McGrain
Appellee: Mally S. Daugherty
Appellant's Claim: That the U.S. Senate had not exceeded its authority in requiring a private citizen to testify before its investigation committee concerning the Teapot Dome scandal.
Chief Lawyer for Appellant: George W. Wickersham
Chief Lawyer for Appellee: Arthur I. Vorys, John P. Phillips
Justices for the Court: Louis D. Brandeis, Pierce Butler, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James C. McReynolds, Edward T. Sanford, George Sutherland, Chief Justice William H. Taft, Willis Van Devanter
Justices Dissenting: None (Harlan Fiske Stone did not participate)
Date of Decision: January 17, 1927
Decision: Ruled in favor of McGrain by finding the Senate had an implied constitutional authority to carry out a congressional investigation of Daugherty.
Significance: The ruling clearly established Congress' power to conduct investigations even without stating a specific legislative purpose. The decision dramatically expanded Congress' ability to investigate the lives and activities of citizens. This power has been regularly exercised by Congress ever since. The decision was also considered the first to uphold the power of Congress or the courts to override on certain occasions claims of executive privilege if a president, his cabinet members, or presidential aides were called to testify.
Page 881
In 1927 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling, McGrain v. Daugherty. The ruling firmly established Congress' power to conduct investigations, even without any specifically stated legislative (law making) purpose and to gather information by requiring private citizens to give testimony. The ruling arose out of a situation referred to as Teapot Dome. Teapot Dome was one of the most infamous (bad reputation) government scandals in U.S. history and became a symbol of corruption in the U.S. government.
In 1909, President William Howard Taft (1909–1913) set aside three tracts of oil-bearing land, Elk Hills and Buena Vista in California and Teapot Dome in Wyoming, for use by the U.S. Navy in case of an emergency oil shortage. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding (1921–1923) took office and within a year transferred control of the three naval oil reserves to his good friend and newly-appointed Secretary of the Interior, Albert B. Fall. With neither congressional approval nor competitive bidding, in 1922 Fall leased the reserves at Elk Hills and Teapot Dome to private oil companies of Edward L. Doheny and...
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- Federal Powers and Separation of Powers
- Federal Powers and Separation of Powers
- Marbury v. Madison 1803
- McCulloch v. Maryland 1819
- McGrain v. Daugherty 1927
- Barron v. Baltimore 1833
- Dred Scott v. Sandford 1857
- Mississippi v. Johnson 1867
- Selective Draft Law Cases 1918
- United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. 1936
- Oregon v. Mitchell 1970
- United States v. Nixon 1974
- Nixon v. Fitzgerald 1982
- Morrison v. Olson 1988
- Clinton v. Jones 1997
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