# Sterling v. Constantin **Status: stub — expand.** **287 U.S. 378 (1932). Decided December 12, 1932. Unanimous, Hughes, C.J.** Texas Governor Ross Sterling declared martial law in the East Texas oil field and used the [[National Guard]] to cap production. Oil producers sued. The Court held that a governor's own declaration is **not conclusive**: where military measures override federally secured rights, whether the facts justify the executive's action is a **judicial question**. The executive gets a "permitted range of honest judgment" — deference, not immunity. *Sterling* is the counterweight to [[Martin v. Mott]] and the source of the standard the Ninth and Seventh Circuits applied to 10 U.S.C. § 12406 in 2025. It is the reason the federalization cases were justiciable at all. ## See also - [[National Guard Federalization Flow]] · [[National Guard]] · [[Posse Comitatus Act]] · [[Insurrection Act]]