United States v. Shreveport Grain & Elevator Co.

Background

A defendant was indicted for misbranding sacks of corn meal by labeling each sack as containing more weight than it actually held, under the Food and Drugs Act. The defendant asked the trial court to dismiss the case, arguing the law was too vague to give fair notice and unlawfully let executive officers make rules. The lower court sustained that motion and dismissed the prosecution, and the Government appealed to this Court.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether the statute’s proviso made the offense too uncertain or improperly delegated lawmaking to administrators. The Justices read the statute to mean that Congress set the basic rule (packages must show quantity) and authorized the named secretaries to adopt rules permitting reasonable variations, tolerances, and exemptions. The Court relied on the long-continued practical construction and on the view that punctuation cannot control statutory meaning. That reading avoids constitutional problems and does not unlawfully delegate legislative power.

Real world impact

The Court reversed the dismissal, allowing prosecutions under the Act to proceed where labeling discrepancies exceed the reasonable tolerances set by the agencies. Federal enforcement will rely on the agencies’ regulations that list allowable variations and exemptions. Businesses must look to those rules to know when a labeled shortfall may lead to criminal charges.

Dissents or concurrances

Three Justices (Brandeis, Stone, Cardozo) concurred in the result but emphasized that, as punctuated and in light of legislative history, the statute is sufficiently definite without the Court’s re-punctuation.