Secretary of Agriculture v. United States et al. (347 U.S. 645)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 7, 1954 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 347 U.S. 645 · 74 S. Ct. 826
- Docket
- No. 480
- Argued
- April 27, 1954
- Decided
- June 7, 1954
- Term
- October Term 1953
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Justice Clark, Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Burton, Justice Reed, Justice Minton
- Dissenting
- Chief Justice Warren (wrote), Justice Black (wrote), Justice Douglas (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. Five railroads which transport fruits and vegetables into New York and Philadelphia filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission schedules of charges for unloading services performed by them at these points. Various shippers and shipper organizations, State Commissions, and other interested parties, protested the proposed charges. The Secretary of Agriculture, acting on behalf of the affected agricultural interests, intervened. The Commission in due course approved the charges, 272 I. C. C. 648. On further consideration, the approved charges were cut roughly in half, 286 I. C. C. 119. Complaints against even these reduced charges were then filed with the Commission, but these were dismissed by it on the basis of its prior decision, and this litigation to enjoin and set aside the Commission’s order followed. 28 U. S. C. §§ 1336, 2325. Numerous parties again intervened — the shipper and consumer interests on the side of the protestants, and the carriers involved on the side of the Commission. The three-judge district court, with Judge De Vane dissenting, upheld the Commission, 114 F. Supp. 420. Direct appeals under 28 U. S. C. § 1253 brought the cases here. 347 U. S. 902. The general rule is that it is the responsibility of the carrier, as part of the transportation service covered by the line-haul rate, to “deliver”…
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