Hill v. Wallace

Background

The dispute involves the Chicago Board of Trade and its directors, the Secretary of Agriculture Henry C. Wallace, and parties who appealed (counsel for the appellants was Henry S. Robbins; the Solicitor General Beck represented the appellees). The Court replaced an earlier stay entered November 21, 1921, with a new temporary order affecting how the Board and the Secretary may act while the appeal is pending.

Reasoning

The core question was what temporary protections and limits should apply while the appeal proceeds. The Court ordered that, during the appeal and for 20 days after final decree, the Board of Trade may not admit representatives of cooperative producer associations who were not eligible under the Board’s pre-suit rules, and the Board and Secretary may not enforce or require certain reports and recordkeeping called for by the Future Trading Act’s §5. The Court also authorized a temporary designation of the Board as a “contract market” without requiring those §5 conditions during the period. The order was entered on condition that the appellants post a $25,000 bond within five days to cover any damages if the Act is later held valid.

Real world impact

For the time being, cooperative associations and their representatives are protected from immediate changes in Chicago Board of Trade membership rules and from new reporting duties under the Future Trading Act. The relief is temporary and limited to the appeal period plus 20 days, so the final outcome could change after the appeal is decided.