The Urgent Deficiencies Act of 1913 was one of a series of laws passed by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

authorizing courts to review agency action. Specifically, it authorized three-judge district courts to "set aside" any order of the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

(ICC).

Legislation

As part of the legislation, all information relating to the

United States Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, established in 1792. From 1872 to 1971, it was officially in the form of a Cabinet of the Un ...

, including the statement of allowances to mail contractors, was removed from the Official Register. The list of ships and vessels belonging to the United States was eliminated as well. The bill also declared that

Federal district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

s would have

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

in cases brought to enjoin, set aside, annul, or suspend in whole or in part any order of the

(ICC). Put another way, I.C.C. orders and enforcements were now subject to Federal district court review, and the special

Commerce Court Commerce Court is an office building complex on King and Bay Streets in the financial district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The four-building complex is a mix of Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, ar ...

of the I.C.C. was abolished. Such cases would be decided upon by specially constituted three-judge panels that would hear and decide on the merits of the arguments for or against enforcement.

Amendments

The district court right of review portion of the act was repealed in 1975. There was also a rider attached to the bill that abolished

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

within the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Treasury Department, added after Treasury Secretary McAdoo was accused of appointing 5 family members under the name "Eisner."

References

1913 in American law United States federal postal legislation United States government information Printing in the United States {{US-law-stub