Regents of the University System of Georgia v. Carroll et al. (338 U.S. 586)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 6, 1950 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 338 U.S. 586 · 70 S. Ct. 370
- Decided
- February 6, 1950
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 7–0
- Majority author
- Justice Reed
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Me. Justice Reed delivered the opinion of the Court. The Federal Communications Commission renewed a radio license only after the applicant, the Board of Regents, carried out a required repudiation of a contract with other persons, respondents here. The Commission had determined that unless the contract were given “no further effect” a renewal of the license would not be in the public interest. This was based on findings that the contract seriously jeopardized the applicant’s financial position and that it allowed the other persons to profit from a situation created by a previous contract with the applicant that the Commission had held illegal. May a state now enforce the repudiated contract against the applicant although this would have the practical effect of nullifying the repudiation required by the Commission? That is the federal question presented in this proceeding. The question arises in this way. The Georgia School of Technology received radio station WGST in 1923 as a gift. Petitioner operated the station until January 1930, when it made a contract with the Southern Broadcasting Company for the operation of the station. The contract was to run for a ten-year period, and the company was to receive all the earnings of the station except a percentage of the gross receipts. This percentage, which varied up to 10%, was to be paid Regents. Southern Broadcasting Stations,…
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