Kingsland, Commissioner of Patents, v. Dorsey (338 U.S. 318)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 21, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 338 U.S. 318 · 70 S. Ct. 123
- Docket
- No. 53
- Argued
- October 18, 1949
- Decided
- November 21, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 6–2
- Issue area
- Attorneys
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Clark, Justice Burton, Justice Reed, Justice Black
- Dissenting
- Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote), Justice Frankfurter
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. Acting under the provisions of § 487 of the Revised Statutes (35 U. S. C. § 11), the Commissioner of Patents found after hearings that petitioner, an attorney, had been guilty of gross misconduct, and entered an order barring him from practice before the United States Patent Office. Pursuant to authority granted by the same provisions, the District Court reviewed the Commissioner’s order. Concluding that the hearings had been fairly conducted after due notice of charges and that there was substantial evidence to support the findings and action of the Commissioner, the District Court affirmed the order. 69 F. Supp. 788. The Court of Appeals reversed, 84 U. S. App. D. C. 264, 173 F. 2d 405. A majority of that court thought the notice of charges inadequate and the proceedings before the Commission unfair. It also held that the District Court had too narrowly restricted its scope of review in holding that substantial evidence was sufficient to support the findings. It apparently drew a distinction between the phrases “substantial evidence” and “substantial probative evidence.” Measuring the findings by the latter phrase, it held that the Commissioner’s findings were not supported by “substantial probative evidence.” Judge Edgerton, dissenting, thought the hearings had been fairly conducted and “the result just.” He agreed with the District Court that “substantial…
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