CBS, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission et al.

Decided July 1, 1981. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 80-207 · 453 U.S. 367 (1981) · Cited 133 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.

• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Farmers Educational & Cooperative Union v. WDAY, Inc. · 360 U.S. 525 (1959)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Midwest Video Corp. · 440 U.S. 689 (1979)
• Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · 401 U.S. 402 (1971)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · 323 U.S. 134 (1944)
• Udall v. Tallman · 380 U.S. 1 (1965)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Reiter v. Sonotone Corp. · 442 U.S. 330 (1979)
• Zemel v. Rusk · 381 U.S. 1 (1965)
• Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo · 418 U.S. 241 (1974)
• Monitor Patriot Co. v. Roy · 401 U.S. 265 (1971)
• Federal Communications Commission v. National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting · 436 U.S. 775 (1978)
• United States v. Rutherford · 442 U.S. 544 (1979)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Woko, Inc. · 329 U.S. 223 (1946)
• St. Martin Evangelical Lutheran Church v. South Dakota · 451 U.S. 772 (1981)
• Reiter v. Sonotone Corp. · 442 U.S. 330 (1979)

Cited by

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

• Anderson v. Celebrezze · 460 U.S. 780 (1983)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. · 556 U.S. 502 (2009)
• Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. · 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
• Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes · 523 U.S. 666 (1998)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Federal Communications Commission v. League of Women Voters of California · 468 U.S. 364 (1984)
• Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. · 501 U.S. 663 (1991)
• Mississippi Power & Light Co. v. Mississippi Ex Rel. Moore · 487 U.S. 354 (1988)

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).