Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Public Utilities Commission of California et al. (346 U.S. 346)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 9, 1953 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 346 U.S. 346 · 74 S. Ct. 92
- Decided
- November 9, 1953
- Term
- October Term 1953
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Minton
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Minton delivered the opinion of the Court. These cases present the same questions of law and will be disposed of together. The Public Utilities Commission of California entered orders authorizing the construction of certain grade separation improvements and allocating the costs therefor, pursuant to § 1202 of the Public Utilities Code of California. On petitions to the Supreme Court of California, that court denied review of the Commission’s orders, and these appeals followed. We postponed jurisdiction until a hearing on the merits. We think the Commission’s orders must be treated as an act of the legislature for purposes of determining our jurisdiction under 28 U. S. C. § 1257 (2). Live Oak Water Users’ Assn. v. Railroad Commission, 269 U. S. 354, 356; Lake Erie & Western R. Co. v. Public Utilities Commission, 249 U. S. 422, 424. The Commission has construed § 1202 as authorizing these orders. The appellants presented squarely to the Supreme Court of California their contention that in the allocation of costs, these orders take their property without due process of law and are so arbitrary and burdensome as to constitute an interference with interstate commerce, in violation of the Constitution of the United States. In sustaining the Commission’s orders by denying writs of review, the Supreme Court of California upheld the statute as applied by the Commission,…
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