The Case Of Ashwander Vs. Tennessee Authority

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The Ashwander V Tennessee Authority case was argued December 19th 1935. McReynolds claimed that the Tennessee Valley Authority Act was unconstitutional while Brandeis was concurring for it. Brandeis collected and presented the Ashwander rules in the case, which are a set of rules which state that the constitutionality of an internal issue between shareholders should not be disputed or taken too literally. The TVA was firstly signed by President Roosevelt May 18th, 1933. This act was put into place as a part of the New Deal, involved with the intent to help Americans out of the depression and improve the economy of the Country. This act cultivated the TVA (Tennessee Valley Act) as a federal corporation. The TVA was challenged with many responsibilities …show more content…

The TVA had been involved in arrangements with privately owned utility companies and other municipalities to supply wholesale power for distribution, in which, the TVA was the biggest supplier. The reason for this is stated in the Britanica, “The TVA power system, which includes more than 50 dams, as well as coal-fired thermal plants and operable nuclear plants, possesses a huge generating capacity” (Britanica). Brandies argued with the Ashwander rules which state that situations having to do with shareholders should not be held up to the constitution as a literal reference. Another perspective which supports Brandies perspective was found on a website called Justia which includes the syllabus of the end decision of the court case, “Courts may not interfere with the management of the corporation unless there is bad faith, disregard of the relative rights of its members, or other action seriously threatening their property rights” (United Copper Securities Co. v. Amalgamated Copper Co, Justia). Since this cooperation helped America with the great depression and impacted society in such a positive way. It is safe to say that there was no bad faith involved with the TVA. The only reason the TVA’s resources were so big and had borderline monopoly tendencies was because it was government funded and was the only corporation able to

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