| Steward Machine Company v. Davis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued April 8–9, 1937 Decided May 24, 1937 | |
| Full case name | Steward Machine Company, Petitioner v. Harwell G. Davis, Individually and as Collector of Internal Revenue |
| Citations | 301 U.S. 548 (more) 57 S. Ct. 883; 81 L. Ed. 1279; 1937 U.S. LEXIS 1199 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | 89 F.2d 207 (5th Cir. 1937); cert. granted, 300 U.S. 652 (1937). |
| Holding | |
| The unemployment compensation sections of the Social Security Act are constitutional. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Cardozo, joined by Hughes, Brandeis, Stone, Roberts |
| Dissent | McReynolds |
| Dissent | Sutherland, joined by Van Devanter |
| Dissent | Butler |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8 | |
Steward Machine Company v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548 (1937), was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the unemployment compensation provisions of the Social Security Act of 1935, which established the federal taxing structure that was designed to induce states to adopt laws for funding and payment of unemployment compensation.[1] The decision signaled the Court's acceptance of a broad interpretation of Congressional power to influence state laws.
The primary challenges to the Act were based on the argument that it went beyond the powers granted to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution and that it involved coercion of the states that called for a surrender by the states of powers essential to their quasi-sovereign existence, in contravention of the Constitution's Tenth Amendment.
- ^ Steward Machine Company v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548 (1937).