Cities Service Gas Co. v. Peerless Oil & Gas Co. et al. (340 U.S. 179)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 11, 1950 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 340 U.S. 179 · 71 S. Ct. 215
- Docket
- No. 153
- Argued
- November 9, 1950
- Decided
- December 11, 1950
- Term
- October Term 1950
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Clark
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Reed, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Douglas, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Burton, Justice Clark (wrote), Justice Minton
- Dissenting
- Justice Black (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Clark delivered the opinion of the Court. The issue in this case is the power of a state to fix prices at the wellhead on natural gas produced within its borders and sold interstate. It originates from proceedings before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission which terminated with the promulgation of two orders. The first order set a minimum wellhead price on all gas taken from the Guymon-Hugoton Field, located in Texas County, Oklahoma. The second directed Cities Service, a producer in this field and operator of an interstate gas pipe-line system, to take gas ratably from Peerless, another producer in the same field, at the price incorporated in the first order. The Supreme Court of Oklahoma upheld both orders against contentions that they contravened the constitution and statutes of Oklahoma and the Fourteenth Amendment and Commerce Clause of the Constitution of the United States. 203 Okla. 35, 220 P. 2d 279 (1950). From this judgment Cities Service appealed to this Court. A substantial federal claim having been duly raised and necessarily denied by the highest state court, we noted probable jurisdiction. 28 U. S. C. § 1257 (2). I. The case may be summarized as follows. The Hugoton Gas Field, 120 miles long and 40 miles wide, lies in the States of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The Oklahoma portion, known as the Guymon-Hugoton Field, has approximately 1,062,000 proven…
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