Racial Exclusion, State Action, and Separation of Powers in Shelley v. Kraemer and Bowsher v. Synar, 1948 to 1986

Shelley v. Kraemer Bowsher v. Syna

Pamphlet

Supreme Court materials from Shelley v. Kraemer and Bowsher v. Synar, 1948 and 1986, tracing two distinct constitutional problems of governmental power across four decades of American law and policy. In Shelley, the Court barred state courts from enforcing racially restrictive private covenants, establishing judicial enforcement of racial exclusion as state action under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Blankstein amicus brief in Bowsher addressed a different boundary, arguing that the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act violated bicameralism, presentment, delegation, and separation of powers principles. The pairing moves from the constitutional recognition of public power operating through courts and private property arrangements to the constitutional division of power within the federal government itself, documenting the changing institutional questions through which twentieth century constitutional law defined who could exercise coercive authority and under what restraints.

Two Supreme Court legal printings, 1948 and 1986, comprising a separately printed opinion and an amicus curiae brief:
[1] Shelley et ux. v. Kraemer et ux.; McGhee et ux. v. Sipes et al. Supreme Court of the United States, Nos. 72 and 87, October Term, 1947. Decided May 3, 1948. 20 pp. The opinion recounts restrictive covenants in St. Louis and Detroit barring occupancy by Black residents and reverses the judgments of the Missouri and Michigan supreme courts. Chief Justice Vinson locates the constitutional violation in judicial enforcement, concluding that the states had acted to deny the petitioners equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The final page explicitly places the ruling within the Amendment's post Civil War history and its purpose of establishing equality in basic civil and political rights.
[2] Blankstein, Edward. Brief of Amicus Curiae Edward Blankstein, in Charles A. Bowsher, Comptroller General of the United States v. Mike Synar, Member of Congress, et al., Nos. 85-1377, 85-1378, 85-1379. Boston: Bateman & Slade, Inc., October Term, 1985. Printed wrappers. Eric H. Karp, counsel of record; Nancy I. Blueweiss and Benjamin D. Feder also named on the wrapper. Blankstein's brief challenges the 1985 deficit control statute as an unconstitutional transfer and concentration of governmental authority, arguing that the Act evaded bicameralism and presentment and contravened separation of powers and delegation principles. The Supreme Court ultimately invalidated the statutory arrangement in Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714 (1986), holding that Congress could not retain removal authority over an officer entrusted with executing federal law.

Both cases examine constitutional limits on governmental authority, but they arise from markedly different problems in postwar American law. Shelley emerged from the campaign against residential segregation, when racially restrictive covenants allowed private property agreements, backed by judicial enforcement, to maintain racial boundaries in American housing. The Court's 1948 decision placed that enforcement within the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment by holding that state courts could not give legal force to the covenants. Bowsher arose nearly four decades later from a different expansion of governmental power: the federal administrative and fiscal state and Congress's attempt, through Gramm Rudman Hollings, to impose automatic deficit reductions. The Court held that Congress could not retain removal authority over the Comptroller General while assigning that officer executive functions under the Act. The two pieces therefore record different constitutional questions about the institutional exercise of public authority: Shelley identifies state action where courts enforce private racial exclusion; Bowsher restricts congressional control over the execution of federal law. Shelley with moderate toning, light handling wear, and a few marginal pencil marks; Blankstein brief with light wrapper toning and minor edge and handling wear. Overall good condition. A compact record of constitutional limits on public authority, from state enforcement of racial exclusion in 1948 to the separation of legislative and executive power in federal fiscal policy in 1986.

Item #23747

Price: $785.00