Federal Communications Commission v. WJR, the Goodwill Station, Inc. et al. (337 U.S. 265)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 6, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 337 U.S. 265 · 69 S. Ct. 1097
- Decided
- June 6, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Rutledge
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Rutledge deliveréd the opinion of the Court. Most broadly stated, the important question presented by this case is the extent to which due process of law, as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, Requires federal administrative tribunals to accord the right of oral argument to one claiming to be adversely affected by their action, more particularly upon questions of law. Lest this spacious form of statement bé taken as too sweeping and abstract to pose a justiciable issue, we think the specific context of fact and decisión out of which the question has arisen must be set forth. But before this is done we should say that, as we understand the Court of Appeals’, decision', it has ruled that Fifth Amendment procedural due process requires an opportunity for oral argument, to be given “on every question of law raised before a judicial or quasi-judicial tribunal, including questions raised by demurrer or as if on demurrer, except such questions of law as may be involved in interlocutory orders such as orders for the stay of proceedings pendente lite, for temporary injunctions and the like,” 174 F. 2d 226, 233, and on this basis has remanded this cause to the Federal Communications Commission for oral argument. Involved in the controversy are two radio stations and the Commission, which is the petitioner here. One of the stations is the respondent WJR. It is licensed by…
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