Charles C. Steward Machine Company v. Harwell G. Davis Legal Briefs and Appendices

Charles C. Steward Machine Company, Petitioner v, Harwell G. Davis, Individually and as Collector of Internal Revenue. (1936) This case before the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with the constitutionality of the unemployment compensation sections of the Social Security Act. The chief points at issue were: 1. Whether federal taxes could be levied on employment and wages and whether the exceptions granted did not make the law class legislation in that it applied to some groups but not to others. 2. Whether the federal government, by the use of its taxing powers, had coerced the states into dealing with unemployment compensation which should be the exclusive concern of the states. 3. Whether the federal government was seeking revenue for the treasury or providing a program for dealing with unemployment. 4. Whether the standards to which the state laws were required to conform in order that the 90 percent offset be granted constituted an Invasion of the rights of the states. The opinion held that the law was constitutional.