Jackson's Three Tiered System

In most Supreme Court cases, the majority opinion usually sets the precedence for future cases and the concurrence has little to do with precedence. However, in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer Justice Jackson’s concurrence creates a three-tiered system for contested Presidential acts. Each tier gives the Court a reasonable idea how to determine whether or not the President’s act was constitutional or not. The first tier is the President’s highest amount of power. It combines his actions and the actions Congress has delegated to him. The Court usually sides with the President’s actions in this tier. The second tier is when the Congress has not issued any delegation on the matter to the President, he must only rely on his Article 2 powers to grant him power. Finally, the third tier is when the President’s actions are in direct opposition with those delegated to him by Congress. In this tier the President must only rely on his Article 2 powers, minus any delegated powers given by Congress. These actions made by the President are put under strict …show more content…
Lincoln closed the Southern ports and seized several boats before Congress had the chance to authorize the Civil War; in order to stop the South from getting imported goods to support the rebellion. Congress declared war with the South several months after the ports closures. The owners of the seized boats brought a suit, claiming the blockade was illegal. The Supreme Court ruled the blockade constitutional, because the President must be able to call out the military or navy when an invasion is imminent. Although, Congress acts alone when declaring war, the President must be able to stop the threat when Congress is not in session. President Lincoln used his Article 2 powers to claim the constitutionality of his blockade. That alone shows tier two of Jackson’s three tier