United States v. Lovett
| United States v. Lovett | |
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| Argued May 3, 6, 1946 Decided June 3, 1946 |
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| Full case name | United States v. Lovett, consolidated with United States v. Watson, and United States v. Dodd |
| Citations | 328 U.S. 303 (more) |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Black |
| Concurrence | Frankfurther, joined by Reed |
| Jackson took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. art. I, § 9 | |
United States v. Lovett, 328 U.S. 303 (1946), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that Congress may not forbid the payment of a salary to a specific individual, as it would constitute an unconstitutional bill of attainder.
In February 1943, the Democratic chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Martin Dies, gave a speech at the floor on the House of Representatives accusing 39 unspecified government employees of "subversive" activities. An amendment was proposed to defund the salaries of the 39 people whom Dies had "indicted". After some debate, the matter was referred to a special subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, which held secret hearings chaired by John H. Kerr. The subcommittee created a definition of "subversive" activity and decided that Goodwin B. Watson, William E. Dodd, Jr. and Robert Morss Lovett were guilty of such activity. Despite attempted interventions by many supporters, including noted federal judge Learned Hand (a friend of Lovett's) and Lovett's superior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, the subcommittee recommended that Lovett be removed from office.
Kerr proposed as part of the appropriations bill a section denying the payment of a salary to Watson, Dodd, and Lovett. Although divisive, his measure passed the House. The Senate Appropriations Committee and the full Senate unanimously and repeatedly rejected the measure. However, the House made it clear that they would not approve an appropriations bill without the provision and after five conference reports, the Senate finally acceded and passed a version of the Urgent Deficiency Appropriation Act of 1943 that included Kerr's provision. President Roosevelt signed the bill while simultaneously declaring his belief that Kerr's provision was unconstitutional.
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