American Export Lines, Inc. v. Alvez et al.

Decided May 12, 1980. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-1 · 446 U.S. 274 (1980) · Cited 193 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Sea-Land Services, Inc. v. Gaudet · 414 U.S. 573 (1974)
• Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc. · 398 U.S. 375 (1970)
• Mobil Oil Corp. v. Higginbotham · 436 U.S. 618 (1978)
• Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki · 328 U.S. 85 (1946)
• Republic Natural Gas Co. v. Oklahoma · 334 U.S. 62 (1948)
• Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn · 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
• Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn · 346 U.S. 406 (1953)
• Gillespie v. United States Steel Corp. · 379 U.S. 148 (1964)
• International Stevedoring Co. v. Haverty · 272 U.S. 50 (1926)
• Radio Station Wow, Inc. v. Johnson · 326 U.S. 120 (1945)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Orr v. Orr · 440 U.S. 268 (1979)
• Michigan Central Railroad v. Vreeland · 227 U.S. 59 (1913)
• Swanson v. Marra Brothers, Inc. · 328 U.S. 1 (1946)
• North Dakota State Board of Pharmacy v. Snyder's Drug Stores, Inc. · 414 U.S. 156 (1973)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Air & Liquid Systems Corp. v. DeVries · 586 U.S. 446 (2019)
• Dutra Group v. Batterton · 588 U.S. 358 (2019)
• Miles v. Apex Marine Corp. · 498 U.S. 19 (1990)
• Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend · 557 U.S. 404 (2009)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).