New York et al. v. United States et al. (331 U.S. 284)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 12, 1947 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 331 U.S. 284 · 67 S. Ct. 1207
- Decided
- May 12, 1947
- Term
- October Term 1946
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Opinion of the Court by Mr. Justice Douglas, announced by Mr. Justice Burton. The orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which appellants seek to have set aside, resulted from two separate investigations instituted by the Commission on its own motion in 1939 to inquire into the lawfulness or unlawfulness of most of the then existing rate-making standards for interstate railroad class freight rates in the United States. One investigation related to classifications under which commodities move by rail freight.' The other related to class rates. The two investigations were consolidated and were covered by one report, as the problems of classification and of class rates are closely interrelated. The findings of the Commission as to classifications are not directly involved here. For the orders of the Commission under attack are interim orders which affect only class rates, increasing them in some areas and decreasing them in others. But a review and summary of the Commission’s findings both on classifications and on class rates are essential for an understanding of the problem. While there are three major classification territories, there are five major rate territories. Official Territory, roughly speaking, lies east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers; it also includes most of Virginia. Southern Territory lies south of Official Territory and east…
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