Andrus, Secretary of the Interior v. Shell Oil Co. et al.

Decided June 2, 1980. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-1815 · 446 U.S. 657 (1980) · Cited 112 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

Decided 6–3.

“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.

• Udall v. Tallman · 380 U.S. 1 (1965)
• United States v. Coleman · 390 U.S. 599 (1968)
• Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill · 437 U.S. 153 (1978)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Sloan · 436 U.S. 103 (1978)
• United States v. National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. · 422 U.S. 694 (1975)
• Cameron v. United States · 252 U.S. 450 (1920)
• Chrisman v. Miller · 197 U.S. 313 (1905)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Bell Aerospace Co. · 416 U.S. 267 (1974)
• Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States · 288 U.S. 294 (1933)
• United States v. Price · 361 U.S. 304 (1960)
• United States v. Fisher · 6 U.S. 358 (1805)
• Seatrain Shipbuilding Corp. v. Shell Oil Co. · 444 U.S. 572 (1980)
• Best v. Humboldt Placer Mining Co. · 371 U.S. 334 (1963)
• Cole v. Ralph · 252 U.S. 286 (1920)
• Davis's Administrator v. Weibbold · 139 U.S. 507 (1891)

Cited by

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

• Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania, Inc. · 447 U.S. 102 (1980)
• Alexander v. Choate · 469 U.S. 287 (1985)
• Jones v. Hendrix · 599 U.S. 465 (2023)
• Salazar v. Buono · 559 U.S. 700 (2010)
• Secretary of the Interior v. California · 464 U.S. 312 (1984)
• Watt v. Western Nuclear, Inc. · 462 U.S. 36 (1983)

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).