Dan Morales, Attorney General of Texas v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., et al. (504 U.S. 374)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 1, 1992 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 504 U.S. 374 · 112 S. Ct. 2031
- Decided
- June 1, 1992
- Term
- October Term 1991
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Affirmed and reversed (or vacated) in part
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice & alia delivered the opinion of the Court. The issue in this case is whether the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, 49 U. S. C. App. § 1301 et seq., pre-empts the States from prohibiting allegedly deceptive airline fare advertisements through enforcement of their general consumer protection statutes. I Prior to 1978, the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (FAA), 72 Stat. 731, as amended, 49 U. S. C. App. § 1301 et seq., gave the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) authority to regulate interstate airfares and to take administrative action against certain deceptive trade practices. It did not, however, expressly pre-empt state regulation, and contained a “saving clause” providing that “[n]othing ... in this chapter shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or by statute, but the provisions of this chapter are in addition to such remedies.” 49 U. S. C. App. § 1506. As a result, the States were able to regulate intrastate airfares (including those offered by interstate air carriers), see, e. g., California v. CAB, 189 U. S. App. D. C. 176, 178, 581 F. 2d 954, 956 (1978), cert. denied, 439 U. S. 1068 (1979), and to enforce their own laws against deceptive trade practices, see Nader v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., 426 U. S. 290, 300 (1976). In 1978, however, Congress, determining that “maximum reliance on competitive market forces” would best further…
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