Reilly, Postmaster, v. Pinkus, Trading As American Health Aids Co., Also Known As Energy Food Center (338 U.S. 269)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 14, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 338 U.S. 269 · 70 S. Ct. 110
- Decided
- November 14, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Black
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court. Federal statutes have long authorized the Postmaster General to forbid delivery of mail and payment of money orders to “any person or company” found, “upon evidence satisfactory” to him, to be “conducting any . . . scheme or device for obtaining money . . . through the mails by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises . ...” Following a hearing the Postmaster General issued such an order restricting respondent’s use of the mails. The representations on which the order is based relate to respondent’s anti-fat treatment, nationally advertised under the name of “Dr. Phillips’ Kelp-I-Dine Reducing Plan.” “Kelp-I-Dine” is a name used by respondent for granulated kelp, a natural seaweed product containing iodine. The Reducing Plan is twofold: It requires users to take one-half teaspoonful of “Kelp-I-Dine” per day, and suggests following a recommended daily diet which accompanies the vials of kelp. Respondent’s advertisements made expansive claims for its plan. They represented that persons suffering from obesity could “eat plenty” and yet reduce 3 to 5 pounds in a week surely and easily, without “tortuous diet” and without feeling hungry. Unhappy people eager to reduce but also eager to eat plenty were repeatedly reassured with alluring but subtly qualified representations such as these: “Remember…
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