PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK v. FEDERAL POWER COMMISSION et al.
No. 459.
Decided December 14, 1959
Kent H. Brown and George H. Kenny for petitioner in No. 459.
J. David Mann, Jr. and J. Louis Monarch for United Gas Improvement Co., and Vincent P. McDevitt and Samuel Graff Miller for Philadelphia Electric Co., petitioners in No. 473.
Willard W. Gatchell and Howard E. Wahrenbrock for the Federal Power Commission; Richard J. Connor, John T. Miller, Jr., Thomas F. Broman, James B. Henderson and William N. Bonner, jr. for Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp.; W. W. Heard and William J. Grove for Pan American Petroleum Corp.; Chas. B. EUard and Bernard A. Foster, Jr. for Atlantic Refining Co.; Gentry Lee and Bernard A. Foster, Jr. for Cities Service Production Co.; Carl Illig and William J. Merrill for Humble Oil & Refining-Co.; Clayton L. Orh and James D. Parriott for Ohio Oil Co.; Frank C. Bolton and William S. Richardson for Socony Mobil Oil Co., Inc. (successor to Magnolia Petroleum Co.); John C. Snodgrass for Pure Oil Co.; George D. Horning for Union Oil Co. of California; Robert E. May for Húnt, Trustee; Rayburn L. Foster, Harry D. Turner, Kenneth Heady, Charles E. McGee and Lambert McAllister for Phillips Petroleum Co.; Martin A. Row, Robert E. May and Omar L. Crook for Sun Oil Co., respondents.
Briefs of amici curiae in support of petitioners were filed by William M. Bennett for the State of California and the Public Utilities Commission of California; John W. Reynolds,. Attorney General of Wisconsin, N. S. Hefjeman, Deputy Attorney General, Roy G. Tulane, Assistant Attorney General, and William E. Torkelson for the State of Wisconsin and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin; David Berger for the City of Philadelphia; David Stahl for the City of Pittsburgh; Joe W. Anderson, Roger Arnebergh, Alexander G. Brown, J. Elliott Drinard, N. H. Goldstick, Dion R. Holm, Claude V. Jonesj Walter J. Mattison; John C. Melaniphy, Barnett I. Shur, A. C. Van Soelen, Charles S. Rhyne and J. Parker Connor for the Member Municipalities of the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers; Charles S. Rhyne and J. Parker Connor for the Alabama League of Municipalities; Edward Munce and Thomas M. Kerrigan for,.the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission; and Edward S. Kirby for Public Service Electric & Gas Co.
Together with No. 473, United Gas Improvement Co. et al. v. Federal Power Commission et al., also on petition for writ of certiorari to the same Count.
Per Curiam.
The motion to substitute Humble Oil & Refining Company, a Delaware corporation, in the place of Humble Oil & Refining Company, a Texas corporation, as a party respondent, is granted. The motions of Public Service Electric and Gas Company and the Alabama League of Municipalities for leave to file briefs, as amici curiae, are granted.
The petitions for writs of certiorari are granted. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is vacated and the cases are remanded to that court with directions to remand the cases to the Federal Power Commission for reconsideration and redetermination in the light of Atlantic Refining Co. v. Public Service Commission of New York, 360 U. S. 378.
Mr. Justice Douglas dissents.
What follows is an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States. Your task is to determine the issue area of the Court's decision. Determine the issue area on the basis of the Court's own statements as to what the case is about. Focus on the subject matter of the controversy rather than its legal basis. In specifying the issue in a legacy case, choose the one that best accords with what today's Court would consider it to be. Choose among the following issue areas: "Criminal Procedure" encompasses the rights of persons accused of crime, except for the due process rights of prisoners. "Civil rights" includes non-First Amendment freedom cases which pertain to classifications based on race (including American Indians), age, indigency, voting, residency, military or handicapped status, gender, and alienage. "First Amendment encompasses the scope of this constitutional provision, but do note that it need not involve the interpretation and application of a provision of the First Amendment. For example, if the case only construe a precedent, or the reviewability of a claim based on the First Amendment, or the scope of an administrative rule or regulation that impacts the exercise of First Amendment freedoms. "Due process" is limited to non-criminal guarantees. "Privacy" concerns libel, comity, abortion, contraceptives, right to die, and Freedom of Information Act and related federal or state statutes or regulations. "Attorneys" includes attorneys' compensation and licenses, along with trhose of governmental officials and employees. "Unions" encompass those issues involving labor union activity. "Economic activity" is largely commercial and business related; it includes tort actions and employee actions vis-a-vis employers. "Judicial power" concerns the exercise of the judiciary's own power. "Federalism" pertains to conflicts and other relationships between the federal government and the states, except for those between the federal and state courts. "Federal taxation" concerns the Internal Revenue Code and related statutes. "Private law" relates to disputes between private persons involving real and personal property, contracts, evidence, civil procedure, torts, wills and trusts, and commercial transactions. Prior to the passage of the Judges' Bill of 1925 much of the Court's cases concerned such issues. Use "Miscellaneous" for legislative veto and executive authority vis-a-vis congress or the states.
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