Case Basics: Docket No.

42
Petitioner (P): United State
Respondent (R): Pink
Decided By: Stone Court (1941 1942)
Opinion: 315 U.S. 203 (1942)
Argued: Monday, December 15, 1941
Decided: Monday, February 2, 1942
Location: New York State Insurance Department
Facts of the Case: In a case similar to United States v. Belmont (1937), the United States attempted to assist the Soviet
Union in recovering assets of the First Russian Insurance Company which the New York Superintendent of
Insurance refused to release.
Question: Did U.S. agreements with the U.S.S.R. compel New York to release the assets?
Conclusion: The Court required New York to release the assets. Justice Douglas affirmed Justice Sutherland's reasoning in
Belmont and argued that New York could not "rewrite our foreign policy to conform to its own domestic policies.
Power over external affairs . . . is vested in the national government exclusively." Reversed and remanded.