Lynch v. United States

Lynch v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided June 4, 1934
Full case name	Lynch v. United States
Citations	292 U.S. 571 (more)
Holding
People can have property interests in contractual agreements with the United States that are protected by due process. Accordingly, Congress cannot reduce expenditures by repudiating and abrogating the contractual obligations of the United States.
Court membership
Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes Associate Justices Willis Van Devanter · James C. McReynolds Louis Brandeis · George Sutherland Pierce Butler · Harlan F. Stone Owen Roberts · Benjamin N. Cardozo
Case opinion
Majority	Brandeis, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
Due Process Clause

Lynch v. United States, 292 U.S. 571 (1934), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that people can have property interests in contractual agreements with the United States that are protected by due process.Accordingly, Congress cannot reduce expenditures by repudiating and abrogating the contractual obligations of the United States.^[1][2]

Significance

The holding in Lynch was unusual because the actual Contracts Clause explicitly denies states the power to pass any "Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts." Because that does not apply to the federal government, the court placed an analogous right in the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause, which does apply.^[2]

The court struck down another act for similar reasons the next year in Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford. However, after the end of the Lochner era, the court relaxed this thread of its jurisprudence.^[2]

References

1. Lynch v. United States, 292 U.S. 571 (1934).
2. Lieberman, Jethro K. (1999). "Obligations of Contracts". A Practical Companion to the Constitution. p. 327.

External links

• Text of Lynch v. United States, 292 U.S. 571 (1934) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia