United States v. Women's Sportswear Manufacturers Association et al. (336 U.S. 460)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 28, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 336 U.S. 460 · 69 S. Ct. 714
- Decided
- March 28, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Jackson (R.H.)
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Jackson delivered the opinion of the Court. The District Court, after trial, has denied the Government’s plea for an injunction, and other relief, against appellees under the Sherman Act. 75 F. Supp. 112. The cause is brought here by direct appeal, as Congress has authorized. Defendants below and appellees here are an unincorporated trade association, its officers and members. There is no serious controversy as to facts. Our review must determine whether or not they establish the Government’s right to the relief which has been denied. We first should be satisfied that the activities on which restraints are alleged to have been exerted constitute commerce among states. The industry involved is women’s sportswear. It is carried on by jobbers, who maintain sales offices in New York and engage in nation-wide competition for orders, chiefly by means of traveling salesmen who solicit throughout the country. Upon receiving an order, the jobber buys the fabrics and cuts them to the customer’s fancy. In most cases he then sends the cut material to a contractor who does the stitching, puts on such accessories as the buttons and the bows, and returns the completed garments to the jobber, who promptly ships them to the customer. That the jobbers maintain a current of commerce, substantial in volume and interstate in character, seems clear. The Boston area ranks fifth in this…
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