California Motor Transport Co. et al. v. Trucking Unlimited et al.

Decided January 13, 1972. William Orville Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 70-92 · 404 U.S. 508 (1972) · Cited 1,621 times

Holding

While any carrier has the right of access to administrative agencies and courts to defeat applications of competitors for certificates as highway carriers, and its purpose to eliminate an applicant as a competitor may be implicit in such opposition, its First Amendment rights are not immunized from regulation when they are used as an integral part of conduct violative of the antitrust laws.

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 7–0.

“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.

• Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc. · 365 U.S. 127 (1961)
• United Mine Workers v. Pennington · 381 U.S. 657 (1965)
• Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food MacHinery & Chemical Corp. · 382 U.S. 172 (1965)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. · 336 U.S. 490 (1949)
• Associated Press v. United States · 326 U.S. 1 (1945)
• Parker v. Brown · 317 U.S. 341 (1943)
• Johnson v. Avery · 393 U.S. 483 (1969)
• Continental Ore Co. v. Union Carbide & Carbon Corp. · 370 U.S. 690 (1962)
• Ex Parte Hull · 312 U.S. 546 (1941)
• United Mine Workers v. Illinois State Bar Ass'n · 389 U.S. 217 (1967)
• United States v. Rock Royal Co-Operative, Inc. · 307 U.S. 533 (1939)
• Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Virginia Ex Rel. Virginia State Bar · 377 U.S. 1 (1964)
• United Transportation Union v. State Bar of Michigan · 401 U.S. 576 (1971)
• Citizen Publishing Co. v. United States · 394 U.S. 131 (1969)

Cited by

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

• Professional Real Estate Investors, Inc. v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. · 508 U.S. 49 (1993)
• Vendo Co. v. Lektro-Vend Corp. · 433 U.S. 623 (1977)
• Allied Tube & Conduit Corp. v. Indian Head, Inc. · 486 U.S. 492 (1988)
• Bill Johnson's Restaurants, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board · 461 U.S. 731 (1983)
• BE&K Construction Co. v. National Labor Relations Board · 536 U.S. 516 (2002)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• City of Lafayette v. Louisiana Power & Light Co. · 435 U.S. 389 (1978)
• City of Columbia v. Omni Outdoor Advertising, Inc. · 499 U.S. 365 (1991)
• Otter Tail Power Co. v. United States · 410 U.S. 366 (1973)
• Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri · 564 U.S. 379 (2011)
• McDonald v. Smith · 472 U.S. 479 (1985)
• Hoover v. Ronwin · 466 U.S. 558 (1984)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• Christopher v. Harbury · 536 U.S. 403 (2002)
• Seattle Times Co. v. Rhinehart · 467 U.S. 20 (1984)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• Sure-Tan, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board · 467 U.S. 883 (1984)
• Group Life & Health Insurance v. Royal Drug Co. · 440 U.S. 205 (1979)
• Walters v. National Assn. of Radiation Survivors · 473 U.S. 305 (1985)
• In Re Primus · 436 U.S. 412 (1978)
• Cantor v. Detroit Edison Co. · 428 U.S. 579 (1976)
• New Motor Vehicle Bd. of Cal. v. Orrin W. Fox Co. · 439 U.S. 96 (1978)
• Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation v. Wold Engineering, P. C. · 476 U.S. 877 (1986)
• Gulf States Utilities Co. v. Federal Power Commission · 411 U.S. 747 (1973)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1972). 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).