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The Constitution of the United States of America

Note 447 — ARTICLE I (continued 2)

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In United States v. Sullivan, 332 U.S. 689 (1948), the Court interpreted the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act of 1938 as applying to the sale by a retailer of drugs purchased from his wholesaler within the State nine months after their interstate shipment had been completed. The Court, speaking by Justice Black, cited United States v. Walsh, 331 U.S. 432 (1947); Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942); United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., 315 U.S. 110 (1942); United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100 (1941). The last three of these cases are discussed below. See pp. 155, 159. Justice Frankfurter dissented on the basis of Federal Trade Commission v. Bunte Bros., 312 U.S. 349 (1941). It is apparent that the Schechter case has been thoroughly repudiated so far as the distinction "direct" and "indirect" effects is concerned. See also McDermott v. Wisconsin, 228 U.S. 115 (1913), which preceded the Schechter decision by more than two decades.

The N.I.R.A., however, was found to have several other constitutional infirmities besides its disregard, as illustrated by the Live Poultry Code, of the "fundamental" distinction between "direct" and "indirect" effects, namely, the delegation of uncanalized legislative power; the absence of any administrative procedural safeguards; the absence of judicial review; and the dominant role played by private groups in the general scheme of regulation. These objections are dealt with elsewhere in this volume. Supra, pp. 75, 78, 80.

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