In the case of Landis et al. v. North American Co., 1936, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman James M. Landis, upholding his decision to postpone a hearing regarding the reorganization of North American Company's utility holdings for six months while Congress considered new legislation on public utilities holding companies. The court held that administrative agencies have broad discretion to manage their own procedures as long as they do not violate statutory or constitutional rights. In this case, it was determined that there were no such violations and therefore upheld SEC’s authority over its proceedings schedule despite objections from North American Company which argued that the delay was an abuse of power by Landis.

In the dissenting opinion for Landis et al. v. North American Co., Justice James Clark McReynolds argued that the majority's decision to allow a stay of proceedings by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was an overreach of power, as it effectively halted all business operations without due process or just cause. He contended that this action violated constitutional rights and exceeded statutory authority granted to administrative bodies like SEC. Furthermore, he criticized the indefinite nature of such stays, which could potentially last years while investigations were conducted - a situation he deemed unfair for businesses under scrutiny who had no clear timeline for resolution or means to challenge these actions in court. The justice also expressed concern about potential misuse of this power by government agencies in future cases if left unchecked.