GUESSEFELDT v. McGRATH, ATTORNEY GENERAL, SUCCESSOR TO THE ALIEN PROPERTY CUSTODIAN, ET AL. (342 U.S. 308)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 28, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 342 U.S. 308 · 72 S. Ct. 338
- Docket
- No. 204
- Argued
- November 29, 1951
- Decided
- January 28, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Black
- Dissenting
- Chief Justice Vinson (wrote), Justice Minton, Justice Reed
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a case brought under § 9 (a) of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 40 Stat. 411, as amended, 50 U. S. C. App. § 1 et seq., to recover property vested by the Alien Property Custodian. The District Court granted the Government’s motion to dismiss, holding that plaintiff, while not “resident within” Germany within the meaning of § 2 of the Act, , and thus “not an enemy” for the purposes of § 9 (a), was precluded from recovering by § 39 which provides that “No property ... of Germany, Japan, or any national of either such country vested in . . . the Government . . . pursuant to the provisions of this Act, shall be returned to former owners thereof . ...” . 62 Stat. 1240, 1246, 50 U. S. C. App. (Supp. IV, 1946) § 39. 89 F. Supp. 344. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed. 88 U. S. App. D. C. 383, 191 F. 2d 639. We brought the case here for clarification of the restrictions imposed by and the remedies open under the Trading with the Enemy Act. 342 U. S. 810. Accepting the allegations' as true for the purpose of dealing with the legal issues raised by the motions to dismiss, the situation before-us may be briefly stated. Guessefeldt, a German citizen, lived continuously in Hawaii from 1896 to 1938. In April of that year he took his family to Germany for a vacation. After the outbreak of…
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