Butz, Secretary of Agriculture, et al. v. Glover Livestock Commission Co., Inc.

Decided March 28, 1973. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 71-1545 · 411 U.S. 182 (1973) · Cited 411 times

Holding

In setting aside the suspension order, the Court of Appeals exceeded the scope of proper judicial review of administrative sanctions, since the Secretary had full authority to make the suspension order as a deterrent to violations whether intentional or negligent, and issuance of the order against respondent, who had ignored previous warnings against short-weighting, was not an abuse of administrative discretion.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“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.

• American Power & Light Co. v. Securities & Exchange Commission · 329 U.S. 90 (1946)
• Moog Industries, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission · 355 U.S. 411 (1958)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Universal-Rundle Corp. · 387 U.S. 244 (1967)
• Phelps Dodge Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board · 313 U.S. 177 (1941)
• Jacob Siegel Co. v. Federal Trade Commission · 327 U.S. 608 (1946)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Woko, Inc. · 329 U.S. 223 (1946)
• Barsky v. Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York · 347 U.S. 442 (1954)

Cited by

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

• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Powell v. Nevada · 511 U.S. 79 (1994)

Official text

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

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William Joseph Brennan Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1973). 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).