Interstate Commerce Commission v. Texas et al. (479 U.S. 450)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 20, 1987 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 479 U.S. 450 · 107 S. Ct. 787
- Decided
- January 20, 1987
- Term
- October Term 1986
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. Trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC or “piggyback”) service, a form of mixed train and truck transportation, enables a carrier to transport a trailer and its contents over rail on a flatcar and then to haul the trailer on the highway. The goods need not be unloaded and reloaded when they move from the rail mode to the truck mode; the shipment remains within the trailer or container during the entire journey. Various forms of TOFC and container-on-flatcar (COFC) service have been offered to the public by railroads, motor carriers, and freight forwarders since the 1930’s. These cases concern the extent of the State of Texas’ jurisdiction over what is known as “Plan II TOFC/COFC service,” which has long been defined as follows: “Plan II (All-Rail): “Door-to-door service performed by the railroad, which moves its own trailers or containers on flatcars under open tariffs usually similar to those of truckers.” See American Trucking Assns., Inc. v. Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co., 387 U. S. 397, 403 (1967). The ICC’s statutory authority includes jurisdiction to grant exemptions from regulation as well as to regulate. In 1980, Congress enacted the Staggers Rail Act, 94 Stat. 1895, 49 U. S. C. §10101 et seq., which authorizes the ICC to exempt from state regulation “transportation that is provided by a rail carrier as a part of a continuous…
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