United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Mine Safety Appliances Co. v. Forrestal, 326 U.S. 371 (1945)

Mine Safety Appliances Co. v. Forrestal

No. 71

Argued November 9, 13, 1945

Decided December 10, 1945

326 U.S. 371

Syllabus

1. In a suit brought by a government contractor in the form of a suit against the Under Secretary of the Navy as an individual, and not as an officer of the Government, but the sole purpose of which is to prevent him from taking action under the Renegotiation Act to stop payment of money by the Government to satisfy the Government's, and not the Under Secretary's, debt, the United States is an indispensable party. P. 326 U. S. 373.

2. Such a suit was properly dismissed, even though it challenged the constitutionality of the Renegotiation Act, because it was a suit against the United States to which the sovereign had not consented. Section 403(e) of the Renegotiation Act applied. P. 326 U. S. 374.

59 F.Supp. 733 affirmed.

Appeal from an order of a three-judge district court dismissing, as a suit against the United States to which the sovereign had not consented, a complaint against the Under Secretary of the Navy seeking an injunction and a declaratory judgment holding the Renegotiation Act unconstitutional.