Dames & Moore v. Regan case brief, 453 US 654 (1981)

Dames & Moore v. Regan
453 US 654 (1981)

-       President suspended claims pending in American courts pursuant to the Algiers Accords, a presidential-executive action wherein the US agreed to terminate all legal proceedings in US courts involving claims against Iran
-       How does the president have authority for this?  It is a sole executive agreement (Presidential-executive agreement)

• there is no congressional authorization for the president’s actions (neither the IEEPA nor the Hostage Act constituted authorization of the president’s actions suspending claims)
• however, both acts give the president broad discretion in emergency situations (see p. 217), and Congress acquiesced to the President’s action
• there is a longstanding history of congressional acquiescence, enabling the president to settle claims with foreign states
  • this is why the court believes that the executive agreement was acquiesced to by Congress

-       although the court validated the president’s conduct, the court made clear that it did not give the president a blank check in the exercise of presidential decrees, because neither the IEEPA or the Hostage Act or the executive agreement authorized the settlement in and of themselves – it was the combination of the executive agreement, the acts, and the congressional acquiescence that made the agreement constitutional under the Jackson test

• so we end up in Jackson’s category 1
• this is a liberal interpretation of the Jackson framework