Cargo of the Brig Aurora v. United States

The Non-Intercourse Act of March 1, 1809 (1809 act) prohibited the import of any goods into the United States from ports located in Great Britain or France. The 1809 act further stated that any goods imported in violation of the prohibition would be forfeited. The 1809 act expired on May 1, 1810. On the same day, Congress passed an act stating that if, within the next year, the president issued a proclamation stating that either Great Britain or France had changed its position in a manner threatening the neutral commerce of the United States, then the provisions of the 1809 act would be revived with full force. On November 2, 1810, the president issued such a declaration. The ship Aurora sailed from Liverpool in Great Britain in December of 1810 and arrived in New Orleans in the United States in February of 1811. The president’s proclamation was known in Liverpool at the time the ship sailed. Purporting to act pursuant to the revived 1809 act, the United States (plaintiff) obtained an order from a district court for the condemnation of the Aurora’s cargo (defendant). The matter was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, with the cargo’s representatives arguing that Congress impermissibly transferred legislative power to the president in violation of the nondelegation doctrine and that the president’s proclamation therefore did not validly revive the 1809 act.