Kay v. United States, 303 U.S. 1 (1938)
Kay v. United States
No. 61
Argued December 10, 13, 1937
Decided January 31, 1938
303 U.S. 1
CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
Syllabus
1. The Court declines to consider a point made by the Government, not raised below and not adequately based in the record, to the effect that a defendant whose plea of guilty was withdrawn on motion made after the ten days set by Rule II(4) of the Criminal Appeals Rules and who was tried and convicted, is precluded from attacking the indictment and the statute on which it was founded. P. 4.
2. The second mortgagee of property on which a loan is being sought of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, who, in a consent to accept bonds of the Corporation in full settlement of his debt, knowingly and falsely, for the purpose of influencing the action of the Corporation, overstates the amount of his claim, is guilty of a violation of § 8(a) of the Home Owners’ Loan Act. P. 5.
3. Even if the other parts of the Act were unconstitutional, § 8(a), aided by the separability clause, is valid as a protection of the Government against false and misleading representations while the Act is being administered. P. 6.
When one undertakes to cheat the Government or to mislead those acting under its authority, by false statements, he has no standing to assert that the operations of the Government in which the effort to cheat or mislead is made are without constitutional sanction.
4. Sec. 8(a) of the Home Owners’ Loan Act defines the crime sufficiently to comply with due process. P. 7.
5. Sec. 8(e) of the Home Owners’ Loan Act, originally and as amended in 1934, forbids and penalizes the charging of applicants for loans from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation for services rendered "for examination and perfection of title, appraisal, and like necessary services," except the "ordinary charges" or fees authorized and required by the Corporation. Held valid.
(1) Sec. 8(e) is separable from the other provisions of the statute. P. 8.
(2) Without regard to the validity of the scheme of the Act, Congress was authorized to protect from exploitation through improper or excessive charges those who sought loans under it. Id.
(3) Taken in connection with a resolution of the Corporation defining the ordinary charges that are "authorized or required," and providing for "any other necessary charge for like necessary services, as specifically approved by the Board of Directors," the section is sufficiently definite to satisfy due process. P. 8.
(4) The phrase "like necessary services" means services cognate to those mentioned in the preceding clause, "for examination and perfection of title" and "appraisal." P. 9.
(5) Congress did not exceed its power in delegating to the Corporation the authority to make such regulations. Id.
6. Under the Criminal Appeals Rules, the Circuit Court of Appeals has power, in the exercise of sound discretion, to approve a settlement and filing of a bill of exceptions which were too late in the District Court, and to pass upon the rulings there disclosed. P. 9.
89 F.2d 19, judgment vacated.
Certiorari, 301 U.S. 679, to review a Judgment sustaining convictions and concurrent sentences on various counts charging violation of the Home Owners’ Loan Act.